One More Game
by Kittyclaw
Summary: The sequel to Toy Soldier. Odd has finally been freed, only, he's a few years late. And that isn't his only problem. Looks like Xana won't be so easily defeated after all.
1. Chapter 1

**And here is the beginning to Toy Soldier's sequel. So far it's just The Discovery with a different name. But new chapters will begin arriving tomorrow! (And by new, I mean stuff you actually haven't read yet). And just a note, this takes place twenty years (yes exactly twenty years) after the events of Toy Soldier's chapter 18 (not the Epilogue).**

Adelle grumbled loudly as she followed her friend along the grimy sewer passage. Beside her Michel sighed.

"Terence, why are we down here?" he asked, wrinkling his nose as the small group passed by a particularly smelly intersection of sewage.

"Because," Terence said, leaping over a small gap in the path, "this is the only way to get to the place I want to show you."

"Really?" Lauren asked, raising an eyebrow.

Terence shook his head. "No, but it's quicker than going above ground."

"And a lot less sanitary," Adelle added, making a face at a dead rat lying on the ground. She took a wide step around the rotting animal, gagging slightly at the smell.

"Don't worry," Terence said, noticing Adelle's face. "We're almost out of here. Just a little further now."

"I hope so," Michel said. The girls were quick to agree. Terence just made a face at the group and continued on. A few minutes later he came to a stop.

"See," he said, pointing to a metal ladder attached to the sewer's wall, "Told you we were close." He then proceeded to scramble up the ladder, the thing giving a few ominous creaks under his weight.

"Are you sure that things safe?" Lauren asked, eyeing the aged metal warily.

"Of course, it held me, didn't it?"

"I guess," Lauren shrugged, climbing up after Terence. Michel moved to follow her, when a hand on his shoulder held him back. It was Adelle, and she was pointing to something lying against the wall by the ladder. It was an old skateboard, which looked like it had seen better days.

"Looks like we aren't the first one's with this idea," Michel said, giving to skateboard a final look before climbing up and out of the sewer. Adelle held back, still looking at the skateboard. A shout from Terence drew her attention back to the ground above, and Adelle hurried to join her friends, pushing the skateboard from her mind.

Adelle exited the manhole and found herself standing on the end of a bridge. Behind her the forest at the back of Kadic ended. And in front of her stretched the rest of the bridge, which ended in a massive building. It looked old, certainly much older than the four teens gazing up at it.

"So," Michel drawled, raising an eyebrow at the place. "This is what you wanted to show us? An old building?"

"No," Terence said, heading for the building. "It's what's inside that you have to see."

"Why?" Lauren asked, reluctant to enter the dilapidated looking structure. Terence just gave her a grin.

"You'll see."

Lauren gave a frustrated growl at the ambiguous answer but, realizing she was being left alone on the bridge, quickly hurried after the others. She followed them into the building and found them standing in a small entry way. A long flight of stairs lead down from the entry way to the main floor of what looked like an old factory, but the bottom half of them had been destroyed.

"So, what do we do now?" Adelle asked, looking around the main floor.

"We go to the elevator," Terence declared.

"The what?" Michel asked, looking around. "I don't see an elevator."

"It's down there," Terence said, pointing to the rectangular structure on the main floor.

"Oh yeah, that looks safe," Lauren said sarcastically.

Terence nodded. "It is. I've ridden in it before."

"Wow," Adelle said, "And how exactly did you get down there?"

Instead of words, Terence answered by taking a short running leap and grabbing onto one of two cables hanging in front of the ruined stairs and sliding down it to the floor. "You guys coming?" he shouted back at the group once he was on the floor. "Or are you scared?"

"No," Michel called back, taking a step back. He then shot forward, grabbing the other rope and sliding down it after his friend. The two girls hesitated, giving each other unsure looks.

"Shall we go at the same time?" Lauren asked, motioning to the ropes. Adelle nodded and, at the count of three, both girls jumped.

"See," Terence said once they were both at the bottom, "It's not that bad."

"Shut up," Adelle grumbled back. Terence just shrugged, leading the group over to the elevator. He punched the large red button at the side of the elevator doors, and grinned as the large doors rumbled open.

"Ladies first," he said, bowing slightly and motioning into the elevator. The girls both gave the elevator less then trusting looks, but climbed into it anyway, followed by the boys. The elevator doors then slid shut with a bang and the large metal box began to descend, with much groaning and creaking on its part. No one spoke the entire way down, instead opting to exchange nervous glances with one another at every squeak and bang of the rusty machine. Eventually it ground to a halt, the doors unlocking with a spark of electricity.

"This is what I wanted to show you," Terence said, stepping out of the elevator.

"Wow," Lauren whispered, approaching the massive computer. Terence grinned at her expression.

"Thought you would like it Einstein," Terence said. "But that's not even the best part. I was here the other day and I figured out how to turn this thing on," he continued, walking over to the computer. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard causing the screen to turn on.

"Whoa, what's that?" Michel asked, pointing to the screen. An image had opened on the screen, showing a boy lying on some kind of glowing blue floor, fast asleep. He was dressed all in purple and looked a lot like a cat; complete with the paws, ears, and tails.

"Dunno," Terence said, "it was their when I turned the computer on. Hasn't done anything but sleep though."

"Well, why don't we try and wake him up?" Lauren suggested, sitting down in the chair in front of the keyboard. She looked around for a moment, finding a small microphone resting on the side of the keyboard. With a shrug she picked it up, hooking it over her ear. As soon as she did, the sound of soft snoring could be heard through the ear piece.

"I can hear him!" Lauren said, rummaging around the computer. "Let me see if I can turn the volume up." She found a knob on the side of the side of the monitor and gave it an experimental turn. She was rewarded by the sound of snores coming over the computer's speakers.

"So, how do we wake him up?" Adelle asked.

Lauren shrugged, tapping her microphone. "Um, hello?" she said into it. Nothing happened, so she tried again, a little louder. This time one of the cat-boy's ears twitched and he opened one eye sleepily. When he saw that he was being watched his eyes opened all the way. He looked about curiously, then turned back to the screen.

"Uh…hi?" he said, leaning towards Lauren. The girl smiled, leaning forward too.

"Hi," said excitedly, "I'm Lauren. Are you like, and AI or something?"

"Um, hi Laruen," the cat-boy said, leaning back. "Nice to meet you. Um, what's an AI?"

"An Artificial Intelligence. Is that what you are?"

"No," the boy said defensively, "My intelligence is not artificial! I'll have you know, I got a C+ on my last science test."

Lauren gave a happy gasp. Behind her, her friends exchanged confused glances.

"What? What's so exciting?" Terence asked.

Lauren grinned, turning to her friends. "I…I think we've just found a very advanced computer program. More advanced than anything we've ever seen."

"Got that right princess," the cat-boy said, stretching with yawn. "Lyoko is one serious piece of work."

"Lyoko," Lauren said with a frown. "What is that, your name?"

The cat-boy gave a snort of laughter. "No, Lyoko is where I live. My name is Odd."

**Maky, there you go! New chapters tomorrow ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**This was supposed to be up yesterday (sorry bout that). But I was looking it over an decided I didn't like what I had written and wanted to rewrite it. Something that ended up takeing longer then expected. But anyway, here it is, chapter 2.**

Lauren was sitting before the super computer, head resting in her hands as she listened to Odd tell his story. He was just finishing his unusual tale.

"…and then you woke me up, and here we are."

"So, that's all you know about yourself?" Lauren asked. "Just that you used to go to Kadic and be a real person, then you went into the computer and now you're here?"

"That isn't all," Odd said. "I had some friends who did something with me on Lyoko in there too."

Lauren raised an eyebrow, tucking a lock of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. "Friends, huh? And what were their names?"

Odd opened his mouth to answer, thought for a moment, then shut it again. "Honestly, I don't really know. I think I did know, but now I've forgot…"

"Well, what did you guys do?" Lauren asked curiously.

Again, Odd seemed at a loss. "You know, I don't remember that either."

Odd seemed to droop when he realized this, so Lauren decided to change the subject. "So, what about this Lyoko place?" she asked. "How did you get there?"

"Oh, that's easy," Odd said. "I used the scanners."

"The what?" Lauren asked, clearly confused.

"Scanners. They're on the next floor down." Odd clarified. "There should be a program in this computer that will let you use them."

"Really?" Lauren asked, pale blue eyes looking over the computer with renewed interest. "Can you tell me more?"

"I would love to," Odd said, "but isn't it a little late? Your friends all went back to school hours ago."

"I know, but that's because they can't appreciate how amazing of a computer program you are." Odd narrowed his eyes at the girl's announcement.

"I already told you, I'm not a computer program! I'm a real person; I even went to your school."

"Really?" Lauren asked, not sounding to believing.

"Yes," Odd said. "And I can prove it."

"Oh yeah?" Laruen asked. "How?"

"Ask any of those teachers of yours if they remember Odd Della Robbia. Mrs. Hertz will remember me, she'll tell you all about the worst student she ever had, you'll see."

"Okay, I'll do that," Lauren said, while thinking to herself that whoever programmed this guy was really good. "Right, well, I'll see if I can come back tomorrow Odd," she said, climbing out of the computer chair and heading into the elevator. She gave Odd a final little wave as the elevator door slid shut and she began her trip out of the factory and back to school.

"Well, that was fun," Odd said, lying down and resting his head on his paws once Lauren was gone. "Even if she doesn't believe I'm real, she's still nice to talk to. Although the techno-babble that girl throws around is enough to give anyone a headache."

--

"Where have you been?" Adelle asked as Lauren tried to sneak into their shared dorm room. "Still at that old factory?"

"Maybe," Lauren said, dumping her bag on the floor and climbing into her bed.

"I don't get what you could possibly spend an entire day doing in that factory," Adelle said, pulling her long black hair up into a bun. "You couldn't have been talking to that computer guy the whole time. Or were you?"

"What's wrong with spending time talking with Odd?" Lauren asked. The other girl raised an eyebrow.

"Um, he's not real?"

"What do you mean 'not real'? Of course he's real," Lauren defended.

"Lauren, he lives on a computer, how could he be real?"

"Because he used something that sent him into the computer, that's how."

"Something…" Adelle repeated, not sounding too convinced. "And what was this something?"

"I don't know," Lauren said. "I didn't go and look. But I know Odd called it a scanner. He said it was what put him on Lyoko. And not just him, but other people too!"

"What other people?" Adelle asked. There were more people on that computer?"

"Well, no," Lauren admitted. "But Odd said that back when he was in the real world and went to Kadic, he had some friends who went with him to Lyoko."

"Oh really?" Adelle asked. "Who."

"He said he couldn't remember who they were," Lauren said. "But that's not my point."

"So, what is your point?" Adelle asked.

"My point is, I think that maybe we could go to Lyoko too." Lauren's declaration was met with a bit of shock on Adelle's part.

"How?" she asked.

"With the scanners," Lauren said. "Odd told me there was a program on the computer that would make them work. If I could find it, I'm sure I could get it to work."

"But, why would we want to go to this Lyoko place?" Adelle asked, crossing her arms.

"Are you serious?" Lauren asked, eyes wide. "Don't you realize what this means? We could actually go into a computer, and even interact with a real artificial intelligence!" At this announcement, Adelle's amber eyes lit up with sudden understanding.

"Oooh, Lauren, you like Odd don't you?"

This was not what Lauren was expecting to hear. "I do not!" she answered hotly, "I just think he is a very interesting, that's all. As an advanced computer program!" she added at Adelle's leering look.

"Oh yes," Adelle said, smiling. "I'm sure you find him very interesting."

"Shut up," Lauren grumbled, rolling over and going to sleep. Or at least she tried to. It was kind of hard with Adelle across the room humming 'Odd and Lauren sitting in a tree'.

--

Michel stood in the middle of the unfamiliar room, looking rather like he wished he was elsewhere.

"Are you sure I have to do this?" he asked the empty space around him, running a hand through his short brown hair. An excited voice answered him.

_"Yes, I'm very sure,"_ Lauren said.

"Why could Terence do this?" Michel asked. "Coming here was his idea."

_"Because, we think you're the best for the job."_

"Why me?"

Lauren's sigh could be heard clearly over the intercom. _"Because we took a vote and decided you should go first."_

"What vote?" Michel asked. "I wasn't a part of any vote."

_"Exactly, that's why you get to go first."_ Michel glared up at the ceiling.

"That isn't very fair," he said, looking less then amused.

_"Just get in there, would you?"_ Lauren demanded.

"And you're sure this is safe, right?" Michel asked in response, resigning himself to his fate, and eyeing the thing before him warily. It was a tall, thin cylinder shaped device, connected to a tangled mass of wires that filled the room.

_"Odd __said it was safe. He__said he's__ done this before."_ Michel found this didn't assure him much.

"Yeah, well, Odd is a purple cat and lives in a computer," he said. "Sorry if I don't want to jump to trusting him about this right away."

_"Would you just stop your grumbling and get in the scanner?" _Lauren shouted. Michel opened his mouth to argue, then shut it again with a sigh. What was the point, he wouldn't win the argument anyway. And so, with a less than enthusiastic attitude, Michel stepped up to the scanner. With a hiss the scanner doors slid open, revealing an interior lit with a bright white light.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Michel grumbled, stepping into the device. Behind him the doors slid shut with a soft clang, and Michel spun around just as the scanner came to life. He watched nervously as a ring of life slid down the inside of the scanner, followed by a strong burst of air from the floor. Michel was just beginning to think he'd made a horrible mistake when there was a bright flash of light, and everything disappeared.

**Hmm, okay thats chapter 2. It was basically my attempt to add a bit more to the story that I already had. Originally I had planned to skip from chapter one to a later date, and not really delve into this intro to Lyoko bit. But, I changed my mind:) Well, hopefully the next update will be on time tomorrow...hopefully.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, this took forever (sorry!). I hope it makes up for it though. Oh, and I would like to welcome EijixOishi to this fic of mine (Welcome!). And now, without further ado, chapter three!**

_"Michel? Michel, are you there?"_

"Yeah, he's here," a voice shouted in response, coming from up above the boy, who had just found himself falling out of the sky. Giving his head a shake, Michel turned to look up. And when he did, he came face to face with, well, a face. "So, how's your first visit to Lyoko feel?"

Michel stared at the purple marked face sitting only inches from his own and frowned. "It feels like you're in my personal space," he answered flatly. Odd just shrugged at the comment, but he did lean back some, letting Michel climb to his feet. Once up, the brunette began to dust himself off. As he did, he noticed something a little different about his attire.

"Uh, Odd, what am I wearing?" he asked, looking down at his clothing. His attire was nothing like what it had been before he arrived in Lyoko. Instead of his bulky coat and jeans, he was now clad in a tight fitting black body suit, completed with black gloves, and a red sash around his middle, which was decorated with a swirly white design and accented with a few yellow flowers. A fact that had Odd giggling behind his paw.

"Nice flowers," the blonde said, grinning as Michel glared at the sash unhappily.

"What?" he asked when he noticed the grin. "What's so funny about my flowers?"

"Nothing," Odd said. "Just the fact that Lyoko bases your appearance on your subconscious desires, that's all." It Michel a moment to realize what Odd was implying. He then decided to not dignify that remark with a response, instead changing the subject.

"So, what exactly does one do on Lyoko?" he asked curiously, looking around himself.

"I seem to remember something about fighting monsters," Odd said, also looking about. "But there doesn't seem to be any here."

"Fight them with what, our fists?" Michel questioned. Odd shook his head.

"No, not with your fists. Well, yes, you could use your fists, but normally you have a weapon to fight with."

"Makes sense," Michel said. "So, where's my weapon?" At that moment something materialized in the air above the too, landing on the ground between them with a thud. The boys both turned their attention from each other to the object below.

"I think that's it right there." Michel shrugged, reaching down to pick up the weapon. It appeared to be a type of mace. Michel lifted it by the handle, which was colored red and trailed a yellow ribbon from one end. From the other end hung a short length of chain, which ended in a large spiked metal ball.

"Not bad," Odd said, looking the weapon over. "I wonder what the others would get themselves if they came to Lyoko." The hint was not lost on Michel, who nodded in agreement.

"What do I do to talk o them, just shout?"

"Pretty much." Just at that moment, Lauren's voice floated down from the sky.

_"Michel, what's going on?"_

"I'm talking to Odd," Michel answered back, shouting in the sky's general direction, and feeling a little silly while he did.

_"Really?" _Lauren asked, sounding excited. _"__Like, in person and everything?"_ Michel nodded, but then figured that Lauren probably couldn't see him.

"Yeah. Do you want to come meet him?"

_"Um, well I...what is it Terence?" _Lauren asked, and the boys could hear the muffled sounds of Terence talking. _"Yeah sure, why not?" _Lauren said. She then returned her attention to those on Lyoko. _"I think I should stay here, but Terence wants to come and see. He's already at the scanner room. Give me a moment while I send him over."_

Odd and Michel could then hear the sounds of Lauren typing away at the keyboard. Then there was a sound reminiscent of a loading file, followed by a green grid looking thing appearing in the sky above the boys. It then gained color, and then tumbled from the sky. Odd and Michel quickly jumped way just as a freshly virtualized Terence fell to the ground at the spot they had just vacated.

"Opps," Odd said. "Probably should have warned him about the drop."

"You think?" Terence asked as he climbed to his feet, brushing his hair back and shaking off the fall. "So, this is Lyoko? I- whoa, Michel, what are you wearing?"

"Lyoko changes your appearance," Michel explained, raising an eyebrow as he took in his friend's appearance. "You should take a look at your own self, Cupid."

"Cupid?" Terence repeated, looking down at himself. He found himself clad in an outfit slightly similar to Michel's. He too was dressed in a tight suit, his sleeveless and a pale blue and white. He also had a pair of short fingerless gloves and a white strap crossing his chest from his shoulder to the opposite hip. Terence turned to look behind himself to see that the strap connected to a sheath type thing, which contained what looked like an unstrung longbow.

But this discovery was overshadowed by the other objects Terence found stuck to his back. A pair of white fluffy little wings.

"Are you kidding me?" Terence asked, staring at the little wings. They responded to his question with a little flutter, as if hoping to lift the boy into the air and prove their worth. But due to their tiny size, this event didn't seem like something they would be accomplishing any time soon, my to Terence's disappointment. This disappointment soon changed to embarrassment when the blonde behind him burst into gales of laughter.

"It's not funny," Terence pouted, suddenly feeling defensive of the little wings.

"Of course not, Cupid," Odd said, picking up on Michel's spur of the moment nickname.

"It's not," Terence said, crossing his arms. "And don't call me Cupid," he added.

"You know, even thought at the moment you're to dumbest looking one here," Michel said, earning himself a glare, "you may not be the worst looking out of our entire group. After all, even though Lauren doesn't want to join us, there is always Adelle."

"Hey, good point," Terence said, smiling. He then turned his attention to the sky above him. "Hey, Adelle, you should come join us!" he shouted. After a moment of silence, Lauren responded.

_"Way ahead of you. She's already on her way."_

At that moment the sound of the girl arriving appeared in the sky over the boys. Again, they had to duck away as someone fell from the sky into Lyoko. But unlike Terence and Michel, Adelle landed on the section of forest path in a graceful crouch, a smirk on her face.

"What do you think?" she asked, standing up and facing Terence. "Do I look dumber then you?"

Although Terence was very unwilling to ever admit it out loud, he found that Adelle actually seemed to look the best of the three.

She had arrived on Lyoko in a very short red dress, with sleeves that reached down to just past her elbows. Under the dress she wore a pair of tight fighting white shorts that, while less revealing then just the dress, were still pretty short. These were paired with a set of short red boots, and a small gold pouch resting on the back of her right hip. The entire ensemble was decorated with golden flowers and vines. Her hair had also been changed, as it was now tied back in two long braids.

"Not bad," Odd said, the other boys with him nodding in agreement. Adelle grinned, soaking up the praise. But then the grinned dropped.

"Alright, enough with the flatteries. Any idea where my weapon is?"

"Is it in there?" Michel asked, poking the pouch an Adelle's hip. Adelle shrugged, but figure checking the little bag out couldn't hurt. She reached back and lifted the pouch's flap, digging around in it. She was surprised to feel some things bouncing about against her fingers and grabbed a few of them.

What Adelle pulled out happened to be just what she was looking for. She couldn't help but be a little impressed with the appearance of the handful of knives she had drawn, a trio of knives that looked a bit too big to have fit together in that little pouch. Curious, Adelle reached back with her free hand and, to her surprise, drew out two more of the blades.

"So, what do I do with these?" the girl asked, giving one of the blades an absent minded twirl. She thought they looked nice, the blades decorated to match her outfit, each having a pink and golden handle. She looked up from them to see Odd shrug.

"Maybe you can toss them at someone," he suggested.

"Toss them?" Adelle repeated, turning to look at Terence. "You mean like this?" She then took the knife she had been twirling and chucked it at the boy. Terence realized what was happening and dodged to the side, just barley escaping the friendly, or maybe not so friendly fire.

"Hey, Odd said we use these weapons to fight monsters, not each other!" Terence shouted. Adelle shrugged.

"Well, I don't see any monsters around here. And I wouldn't want my weapons to go to waste."

"So, what do we do here then, just fight each other?" Michel asked curiously.

"Sure," Terence said, shrugging. "This place is basically a giant video game. Might as well play."

Terence was then sent running as Adelle found agreement with his words, and set upon him with gusto. Odd smiled as he watched the pair go. He found he was glad to have this new company here with him, as Lyoko was a lonely place when you were there all by yourself. But as the trio launched happily into their game, Odd couldn't help the feeling at the back of his mind that seemed to say that Lyoko was more than just an innocent game.

But Odd ignored this nagging thought. Lyoko didn't seem that bad. I mean really, it was only a video game world. How dangerous could it be?

**Wadda ya think? This chapter was very hard to get out, but Daydreamer9 and Burraku's Shadow both provided ideas that helped me shake my writers block. Hope I don't make another wait like that again (without a decent reason anyway). Oh, and Burraku's Shadow, I've answered your review on my profile, I think you'll like what I've got to say!**


	4. Chapter 4

**This took way longer then I had hoped it would to get out, But hopfully you like it anyway! Let me know what you think!!!**

The air was thick with tension as Odd crouched low behind a large forest sector tree. He was breathing hard, having just sprinted to his hiding place only minutes before, but he was trying hard to keep the volume of his panting low. Across the path Terence was doing the same. He was sitting behind a little outcropping of rocks, his bow held close. Terence glanced about nervously, then leaned forward as if to saw something when another voice cut him off.

"Odd, Terence, I know your around here somewhere," Adelle called from a little further down the path. Her call caused both boys to stiffen, their eyes widening in fear as the sound of Adelle's footsteps drew closer. Then they stopped. "Hmm…guess you're not here," the girl said. And then her footsteps changed direction, retreating back the way they had come.

"That was close," Odd whispered, starting to climb to his feet, when he froze. All of a sudden he got a rather discomforting feeling. It was the feeling you get when you realize someone is standing directly behind you. Slowly, Odd turned around to find that yes, someone was in fact behind him.

"Hello Odd," Michel said, grinning from his perch in Odd's hiding tree.

"Um, hi Michel," Odd said, giving a small wave. Michel responded by bringing his mace swinging down towards the cat boy. Odd flung himself away from the attack, taking off down the forest path. Behind him he could hear Michel giving chase. Odd twisted him arm around, aiming it under his other arm and firing a laser arrow at his pursuer. He grinned when he heard Michel cry out and fall back.

Odd decided that it was now safe to stop and turn around. When he did, it was just in time to see Terence take Michel out with a well aimed arrow. But the winged boy didn't get much time to gloat, for at that moment a knife came flying down from the trees, devirtualizing him.

"Looks like the battle's over," Adelle called, leaping down from her perch in a nearby tree, landing in the ground in a graceful crouch. "Now it's just you and me. Looks like we have a duel on our hands."

"Fun," Odd drawled, taking a defensive stance. "Shall we begin?" Adelle answered by launching off two knives, which Odd dodged through a few graceful and, in Adelle's opinion, overly flashy twists. He then knelt down, firing off a volley of laser arrows. Adelle ducked and weaved, avoiding all but a few of the arrows. And while she was distracted, Odd took advantage and quickly turned tail, scurrying for the tower at the end of the path.

"Get back here you purple fuzz ball!" Adelle screamed when she realized what was happening. Odd was using her lack of speed on Lyoko against her, as well as the fact that he was the only one who could access the towers. A fact Adelle refused to let the boy take advantage of this fact, taking off after him with a flurry of insults, each accompanied by a flying blade.

Odd wasn't worried though. He had a good head start, and with Adelle's increased rage, her weapons lost accuracy. And so, just to spite her, Odd slowed his speed a little, letting Adelle gain on him without actually getting close enough to be a threat. This was not something that amused the irate girl, a fact she made sure was well known.

But her shouts mattered not to her purple prey, for he had reached his destination. With a cocky wave, Odd disappeared into the tower, grinning happily. He waited, knowing that at her speed, Adelle would have trouble slowing down before she collided with the solid tower. But to Odd's surprise, and slight horror, Adelle did not crash into the tower base. She passed through it, right to where he was standing.

"How…how did I get in here?" Adelle asked, looking about open mouthed, all thoughts of battle forgotten.

"This is a way tower, isn't it?" Odd grumbled to himself, letting his face fall into a large paw.

"A 'way tower'?" Adelle asked. Odd nodded.

"It's a tower anyone can access," he explained. "It takes you to the different sectors of Lyoko."

"Different…wait, you mean there's more?" Again, Odd nodded. He was about to explain further, when a voice echoed through the narrow tower.

_"Why didn't you tell us about the other sectors?"_ Lauren asked. _"They may have been able to help you regain some of your memories about Lyoko!"_

"You never asked about them," Odd said, shrugging. Adelle sighed.

"Well, we are now," she told the warrior. "So why don't we go see these other sectors and take a look around."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Odd said. Adelle nodded in agreement.

"No, it wouldn't. So, how do we get to these other sectors of yours?"

"Like this." Odd then proceeded to shove Adelle from the edge of the tower platform, jumping down after her.

--

Adelle stumbled from the way tower with much angry grumbling. But all of that died down when she got a look at the new land around her. Odd followed her from the tower, a smile on his face.

"What do you think?" he asked, looking around.

"Wow," Adelle whispered, looking around with wide eyes.

"Adelle," Odd said, tossing an arm around the girl's shoulders, "welcome to the Ice Sector."

"Not a very imaginative name," Adelle said, taking in the new place. The pair had arrived in a small circular area, surrounded by a high wall of ice. The only exit from the frozen hole was a narrow path in front of them, which cut through the high ice cliffs.

"Yeah well, none of the sector's names really had that much thought put into them. Now come on, let's take a look around." Odd began walking off down the icy valley. Adelle, not one to be left behind, followed after him.

"Anything look familiar, triggering any memories?" she asked when she joined Odd, who was looking over every square inch of the ice walls around them. Odd shook his head.

"I feel like I've been here before, like it's somewhere I've been a lot and know well. But nothing specific that will help me remember why I've been here," Odd finished the sentence with a dejected sigh, letting his head droop.

"Hey, you'll figure it out," Adelle assured him, resting a hand on his shoulder. Odd looked up at the touch, and gave Adelle a smile.

"I know," he said, perking up a little. "I know I've been here before, so I must remember something about it, right?"

"Of course," Adelle said, grinning. At that moment the pair reached the end of the valley path. "Okay, let's go," she said, stepping out into the open. "I'm sure we'll find something out here." Just as Adelle finished her sentence, something large and white came hurtling down from the top of the ice cliffs behind, landing in front of her with a heavy thud. The big thing then spun around, facing her.

The great big creature was possibly the weirdest thing Adelle had ever seen. It looked like some sort of oversized, horribly proportioned dog. And instead of a pair of eyes, it just had a big purple symbol on its face.

"What is that?" Adelle asked, stepping back next to Odd. The blonde, whom she had been addressing, didn't answer. Instead he just stared up at the creature, eyes wide. Then suddenly he cried out, clutching at his head and falling to his knees.

"Odd!" Adelle shrieked, crouching down beside the boy. "Odd what's wrong? What's going on!?"

But Odd didn't hear her shouts. He was clutching his head, eyes screwed shut as other voices and images found their way into his mind.

_"Odd, watch out!"_An open expanse of dusty land, and being pushed from it to the emptiness below.

_"Odd, don't do this. You don't want to do this."_The white creature standing with him, its cannon aimed at someone nearby.

_"It's Xana.__ He's attacking me, and he's using Odd to do it! He has him completely possessed!"_A great black creature, and pulsing red eye.

_"Why can't I attack you!?" "Because we're friends, that's why."_A boy with brown hair and the flash of an approaching blade.

_Hello my little toy soldier. _A flash of red. _Ready for one more game?_

Odd gasped, eyes shooting open as the last voice echoed through his mind, more clear and penetrating then the others. Beside him Adelle gave a shout.

"About time, now come on, we need to get away from that thing!" Odd as then dragged to his feet by the girl, who pulled him back down the path they had just immerged from. The beast behind them tried to follow, but could not fit its wide chest between the high walls of ice. It let out an angry roar when it realized this, spurring the two teens to pick up their pace. It didn't take them long to reach the way tower again, which they both bolted in to. Once they were sure they were safe, the pair plopped down on the tower floor.

_"Are you guys okay?" _came Lauren's worried voice. _"There was a strange mark on my map, what was it?"_

"No idea," Adelle said, panting slightly.

"It was a monster," Odd said. "The ones I told you were here."

"Really," Adelle said, interested. "Did seeing it happen to spark any memories? Maybe that was what caused you to freak out back there." Odd gave a thoughtful nod.

"I think you might be right," he said, thinking over the images and voices he'd seen and heard.

"What did you remember?"

"Not much," Odd said. "I heard a couple voices. One was mine, and two I didn't recognize. And then I saw some things. That white monster, a big black thing, some red glowy thing, and a boy."

"A boy?" Adelle asked. "What did he look like?"

"Brown hair and eyes," Odd said, shrugging. "There wasn't a lot of detail. Although, now that I think of it, he looked a lot like Michel."

"What does that mean?" Adelle asked, curious and confused. Odd shrugged again.

"Don't know. Maybe they're related."

"I seriously doubt it," Adelle said. "The chances of us being related to, let alone knowing anyone you used to know is pretty slim. Who knows how long you've been on this computer, and how old your friends are now."

"Yeah, you're right," Odd said. "Besides, that would be a little weird. Me, fighting the dangers of Lyoko alongside Mr.…hey, what's Michel's last name anyway?"

"Stern," Adelle said. "Michel Stern."

"Stern?" Odd repeated, eyes widening. Adelle nodded.

"Yeah. Sound familiar?" Odd thought for a moment, rubbed his chin, tapped his knee, then shook his head.

"Sorry, doesn't ring any bells. Oh well, better luck next time."


	5. Chapter 5

**Is it...? No it can't be! Did she actually _update_!? Yes, she did! (come on, gasp with me, you know you want to). I don't totally have a great excuse for the wait, it was just sort of a combination of no sleep/got sick/it was the holidays/sky is falling/I'm lazy/got a new cat/school is coming. So...yeah. But anyway, on to the next chapter!**

"Not another F, not another F, not another F."

"You know Terence," Michel said, looking over to his preying friend, "There is another way to pass a test. It's called studying."

"Why would I want to do that?" Terence asked, breaking from his chanting. Michel shrugged.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe so you don't fair science again. You know your dad will kill you if he finds out you're failing science."

"No he won't," Terence responded. "My dad's not like yours. He isn't so strict about grades. As long as I don't get held back-"

"Again."

"Don't get held back again," Terence said, glaring at Michel, "then he doesn't worry too much about my grades."

"Just because your dad isn't worried about your grades doesn't mean you shouldn't be either," Michel said. "Isn't that right Lauren?" Michel turned to the blonde sitting at the table at his right, but found that she wasn't paying any attention to the conversation. She was instead looking out the window, a thoughtful look on her face. She was so lost in thought that she nearly jumped out her seat when the teacher appeared beside her, setting her test before her.

"Wonderful, as always," the teacher said, smiling down at the blonde. The smile remained as the teacher handed Michel his test. But it dropped when the elderly woman reached Terence. She said nothing as she placed the test down in front of the dark haired boy, and then marched away. Terence grimaced when he saw his grade.

"That witch," he grumbled under his breath. "She gave me an F+. What kind of grade is an F+? Is that some type of teacher sarcasm? Yes, you completely and totally bombed this test, but hey, at least it's not an F, just an _F+_." Michel rolled his eyes at his friend's comment, having become used to the boy's sarcasm long ago thanks to his position as Terence's roommate. Just then the bell rang, signaling the lunch break.

"Alright," Michel said, jumping out of his chair. "Come on Terence, let's get you and your F+ to lunch. You coming Lauren?" he added, noticing that the blonde was still seated.

"You guys go on ahead; I have something I need to ask the teacher. I'll meet up with you guys at lunch, okay?" Laruen said, not getting up.

"Alright," Michel said with a shrug, leading Terence from the room. "We'll see you then." Terence gave a half wave as the pair disappeared down the hall, still complaining about his grade. Once the class had emptied Lauren got to her feet, heading over to the teacher's desk.

"Excuse me," she said, plucking at her sweater. "Mrs. Hertz, I have a question." The frizzy haired teacher Lauren had addressed turned to look back at her curiously.

"Yes Miss. Belpois, what is it? Is something wrong with your test grade?"

"No Mrs. Hertz," Lauren answered. "Actually, I was hoping to ask you about one of your former students. His name was Odd." Lauren had been thinking about what Odd had told her when they first met, and figured she might as well take advantage of whatever clues to the cat boy's past she could get.

"Odd…Della Robbia?" Mrs. Hertz asked. Lauren guessed that this Odd Della Robbia was the Odd she wanted, and nodded. An act which caused Mrs. Hertz to give a heavy sigh.

"What's wrong?" Lauren asked, not expecting such a response. Mrs. Hertz shook her head.

"Odd Della Robbia, now there was a child who could try your patience," Mrs. Hertz said. "In fact, I remember one time when, instead of taking notes, he spent the entire class period folding the pages of his text book into paper cranes. That was right before he disappeared. But you should know all about that," she added, looking up at Lauren over the tops of her glasses.

"Why?" Lauren asked, feeling very confused now.

"Your parents are Jeremy and Aelita Belpois, are they not?"

"Yes," Lauren said. "But what does that have to do with knowing about Odd?"

"Well, your parents knew Odd. So did the parents of Mr. Stern and Mr. Dunbar."

"Odd knew Michel and Terence's parents?" Mrs. Hertz nodded. "My parents never told me about that. What happened to him?"

"Well, it was back when your parents were just about your age," the teacher began, turning to look out the window. "It happened rather quickly. Suddenly Odd began acting very strange, nothing like his normal self. And then he just disappeared."

"What happened after that?" Lauren asked, eyes wide as this information connected together with what she already knew from Odd.

"No one knows," Mrs. Hertz said, causing Lauren's eyes to widen.

"So he just disappeared one day, and was never seen again?"

"Yes, that about sums it up," Mrs. Hertz said with a nod.

"Interesting. Thank you Mrs. Hertz." Mrs. Hertz began to answer the blonde, but when she turned to speak to the girl, she found her already gone.

--

"And the genius returns," Terence announced as Lauren took her seat at the group's usual table. "So, why did you hang back? Disputing a test grade again?"

"No," Lauren said, setting her tray down in front of her. "I was taking Odd's advice."

"What advice?" Michel asked curiously. "Don't fall into the virtual sea?"

"No," Lauren drawled, giving her friend a quizzical look. "Actually, I was asking Mrs. Hertz if she knew who Odd was." General sounds of exasperation met Lauren's announcement.

"Lauren, give it up, Odd is not a real person," Terence said, shaking his head. Lauren just glared at the raved haired boy in response, then turned to Michel and Adelle across the table. Michel just shook his head as well, while Adelle sighed.

"Sorry Lauren, I've got to agree with the guys on this one," Adelle said. "I mean think about it, what are the chances of Mrs. Hertz, the old school science teacher, having ever met Odd, the computer AI?"

"Apparently they're pretty good," Lauren said with a smile, "since Mrs. Hertz told me she did in fact know him." This time Lauren's announcement was met with a much more excited response.

"What did she say about him?" Michel asked, eyes wide.

"As it turns out, Odd was telling us the truth," Lauren answered. "He really was a student here at the school. Mrs. Hertz said his name was Odd Della Robbia. But that isn't the most exciting news."

"Then what is?" Adelle asked, leaning slightly across the table. Lauren leaned forward as well, grinning.

"Believe it or not, it turns out that Odd knew some of our parents."

--

With a heavy sigh Odd dropped onto the floor of his chosen tower for a nice afternoon nap. He knew that technically he wasn't tired, what with being on Lyoko and all, but he still felt ready for a good rest. Going from being all alone to suddenly tromping about Lyoko with three other people could really wear a person out.

And being bombarded with sudden, overwhelming memories probably wasn't helping either. And this was what Odd decided to think on as he began his cat nap.

Odd was thrilled with his new memories, even with their disjointed quality. After so long without any idea of who he was, Odd was finally getting a chance to reclaim his lost past. But with this joy also came confusion. And Odd's biggest point of curiosity? What had Michel been doing in his memories. That was something that just didn't make sense.

But of course, it may not have been Michel. It could have been someone completely different. Like Adelle had said, no one knew how long Odd had been trapped in this computerized world, and how long ago Odd had known these people that he remembered. Maybe Odd really had been remembering Michel's father.

Odd gave a laugh at that thought. Michel's father, on Lyoko? Not very likely in Odd's oh so humble opinion. Besides, he would have known if Michel's last name was familiar. Stern was a rather interesting name after all, not one Odd felt he would forget so easily.

Although, considering he had forgotten about that freakish monster thing in the ice sector, maybe the idea of forgetting a name wasn't so farfetched after all…

--

Meanwhile, deep in the bowls of Lyoko's core, a black fog was coming together and taking form. Slowly the mass of smoke solidified, and where the dark cloud once hung, and dark shape imerged. It was some type of great black cat standing on thickly muscled legs with a wide chest, and a big boxy head, from which to bright bloody eyes gleamed.

This massive cat turned its head down, eyes narrowing as a single word was hissed between it's lips.

_Odd._


	6. Chapter 6

**And here it is, chapter six! Everyone, go thank Terran34 (go-check-out-his-story) for being my editor and making sure this chapter looked it's best! And helping motivate me to get it up quick like. Lemme know what you think!**

"Are you sure about this?" Michel questioned as he paced about his bedroom.

_"Yes Michel, I'm sure," _Terence answered, his voice echoing over Michel's cell phone. _"Besides, what harm is there in asking?"_

"The harm is my dad killing me when he finds out we went to the factory!" Michel hollered down the phone. His shout was answered with laughter.

_"Come on Michel, you heard what Lauren said. Your parents could be the key to figuring out Odd and his memory stuff."_

"Your parents could help too you know," the brunette responded, reaching a hand up to massage his temple. "They knew Odd as well."

_"But they weren't best friends with him like your parents,"_ Terence said. _"Also, I'm a boarder__. My parents live out of town. And we voted that it would be you to ask."_

"Voted? I wasn't aware of a vote!"

_"Exactly," _Terence said, and Michel could hear the smirk in his voice. _"__So quit whi__ning and go ask. Then call me back when you have. Bye!"_

"Terence wait-!" But it was too late. Terence had already disappeared, probably off to laugh at Michel's expense a little more. Michel sighed and tucked away his phone. At that moment a call from down the hall from his mother heralded the arrival of dinner. And so, feeling as if he was walking to his utter doom, Michel left his room and walked down the dining room.

When he got there he found his father already seated at the table. He looked up and smiled when he saw his son enter the room.

"Hello Michel, how was school today?" Ulrich asked.

"It was good," Michel answered, dropping into his seat. He fidgeted nervously with his fork as his mother joined the table.

"Is something wrong?" Yumi asked him when she noticed his discomfort. "Did something happen at school?"

"No," Michel said, shaking his head. His parents accepted his answer and returned to their dinners.

'Darn,' Michel thought, stabbing at his food. 'This is going to be harder than I thought.'

--

Adelle sat cross legged on the ground in front of Odd as she listened to what he had to say.

"-and then I thought, 'what of Michel's dad did come to Lyoko," Odd was saying, hands waving about as he spoke excitedly. "So, when I thought that, I bunch of ne memories came to me!"

"Really?" Adelle asked, looking excited.

_"What were they?" _Laruen asked, her voice booming from the sky.

"Mostly people," Odd responded. "I remember seeing a girl with a couple of fans, a boy with black hair and a big sword…he kind of looked like Terence, then there was a blonde kid, the guy who looks like Michel, and a pink haired girl with wings. She was pretty," Odd added, a distracted look coming to his face.

_"Odd, please don't say that," _Lauren pleaded, while down on Lyoko Adelle was breaking into a fit of giggles.

"What?" Odd asked, looking bewildered at the girl's sudden laughter.

"Odd, I think you have a crush on Lauren's mom!"

"What?!" Odd shouted, now thoroughly confused.

_"I'll explain," _Lauren said as Adelle continued to giggle. _"You see, I went and spoke with Mrs. Hertz like you said," _the blonde began. _"Turns out you were right- she did know you. And she wasn't the only one. According to her, you were best friends with our parents."_

"So all of those people I just remembered where your parents?" Odd asked, raising an eyebrow. Adelle nodded.

"Yep. I think the black haired girl is my mom. And then the one that looks like Terence, he must be my dad."

"Oh," Odd said, looking down. Then he suddenly looked up again. "Wait, Terence is your brother?" Adelle nodded again.

"Yes. Well, actually he's my step brother. Didn't you know that?"

"No," Odd said, shaking his head.

"Oh, well, he is. And…uh, why is that tower glowing like that?" Adelle asked suddenly, pointing over Odd's shoulder. Odd spun around to see what she meant. And he found he didn't like what he saw.

The tower behind Odd, which was once glowing a soft white color, was now a bright red.

"Uh-oh," Odd whispered, just as a shout from the sky got his attention.

_"Odd, a window just popped up on my screen. It says 'Activated Tower- Forest Sector'. What does that mean?"_

_"_It means," Odd said, looking worried, "that we are in some serious trouble."

--

Jeremy sighed, leaning on his hand as he tapped at the keys of his laptop. Tapping that was supposed to be writing him a report for work. But Jeremy, unable to become even remotely interested in the paper had given up writing it some time ago.

With a sigh Jeremy let his forehead slip from his hand and land with a dull thud on his keyboard. When he did, a soft giggle filled the air.

"Working hard are we?" Aelita asked impishly as Jeremy turned to look at her.

"Very hard," Jeremy replied, smiling at his wife.

"Well, you better keep working," Aelita said, making her way out of the room. "This report is important you know."

"I know," Jeremy said, turning back to his computer. But to his surprise, it wasn't his report open on the screen. It was something different, a message. One that Jeremy had fully expected to never see again.

"Aelita," he called, "we have a problem!"

"What?" Aelita asked, poking her head back in the room. Jeremy turned to her, eyes wide.

"Aelita, Xana's activated a tower."

--

"Michel, are you sure you're okay?" Yumi asked, setting down her fork. Diner was already half over and her son hadn't even touched his food. It didn't take a mother's intuition to know something was wrong.

"You know, you can always tell us if something is wrong you know," Ulrich added, also looking at his son. Michel was sorely tempted to tell his parents nothing was wrong, but their combined worried looks just wouldn't allow it.

"Alright, there is something I need to tell you guys," Michel admitted. "You know that abandoned factory near the school, right?"

"The one we told you to never go near?" Ulrich asked.

"Ever?" Yumi added. Michel grimaced as he nodded.

"Yeah, that one. Well, you see, my friends and I, we…um," Michel began, but he was thankfully saved from any more of his admittance by the timely ringing of the phone. "Don't you think you should go answer that?" he said, giving the most innocent grin he could muster. Ulrich gave his son a suspicious glare, but did leave the table, heading into the kitchen to get the nearest phone. Michel heard him answer, and then call out a few seconds later.

"Yumi, come in here, it's Jeremy. He says he has something important to tell us!"

"Don't think this means you're getting out of talking to us," Yumi warned, getting up from the table and joining her husband. The pair wasn't gone long before they returned.

"So, what did Jeremy want?" Michel asked sweetly. His parents saw right the through his attempt at distracting them.

"He wanted to tell us that someone has apparently been to the factory," Yumi said, giving Michel a pointed look.

"Yeah, about that-" Michel began, but Ulrich cut him off.

"You can explain on the way," he said, heading out of the room.

"On the way?" Michel repeated, getting up and following him.

"Yes," Yumi said. "We're heading to the factory."


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay, it's chapter seven! (Am I on a roll or what?) Well here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for! (Well, maybe. Anyway, it happens about halfway through the chapter). Anyway, on with the fic!-**

Adelle and Odd started up at the glowing tower before them, neither exactly sure what to do.

"So…what now?" Odd asked curiously, earning himself a glare from Adelle.

"What do I look like, the Lyoko cheat guide?" she asked. "You're the one who's supposed to know all of this stuff."

"…so?" Odd asked, causing Adelle to sigh.

"So, instead of sitting here flapping your jaws, why not see if you can pull up some of those memories of yours?" This time it was Odd's turn to glare.

"I can't just remember these things up at will, you know," Odd said, crossing his arms over his chest.

_"Well, you'd better learn how to Odd," _Lauren said. _"I just talked to my parents and they said we need to figure out how to deactivate the tower as soon as possible, whatever that means."_

"Alright," Odd replied, looking a bit unsure. But then a thought hit him. "Hey, Lauren," he called, "what are your parents' names? If they came to Lyoko, then I must know them!"

_"Good idea Odd," _Lauren said. _"My dad's name is Jeremy, and my mom's is Aelita. Ring any bells?"_

But Odd didn't answer, as he was distracted by the memories now racing through his head.

_"Aelita, hide!"_ A girl with pink hair and pale green eyes.

_"Ulrich, get Aelita to the tower!" _The pink haired girl disappearing into the tower.

_"Tower deactivated." _The tower, once glowing a bright red now fading back to white.

Odd shook his head, clearing it of the fog the new memories had created.

"Well?" Adelle asked, watching Odd closely. "Anything?" Odd nodded.

"Yeah," he said, "we need to get into the tower to deactivate it."

"Well, you're the only one I know who can do that," Adelle said, motioning to the tower. "The floor is yours." Odd gave the girl a smirk, turning to the tower.

"Alright," he said, crouching into a runner's stance. "Here goes nothing." And with that Odd took off towards the tower. Odd was sprinting rather fast, thinking that maybe a quick entry into the tower would result in a quicker thinking of what to do next. But sadly, Odd's logic was proven faulty, for his sprint did not get him into the tower faster. In fact, it didn't get him in at all.

Odd wasn't sure what hurt his pride more- bouncing off the tower and landing on his backside, or the fact that Adelle was busy laughing herself into a coma because he bounced off the tower and landed on his behind.

"You know, it wasn't that funny!" Odd shouted at her, getting up and brushing himself off.

"Yes…it was!" Adelle shouted back between laughs. She looked like she wanted to say more, but she just couldn't stop laughing long enough to say it. So Odd just stood with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face as Adelle's gales of laughter slowly died down into giggles.

"Are you done?" Odd asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Yeah, I'm done," Adelle answered, letting out a deep breath. "Wow, you should have seen yourself," the dark haired girl said. "That was the funniest thing I've seen all day."

"I'm sure," Odd drawled. "Glad to know I've made your day brighter. Now, if you don't mind, we have a slight problem. This tower won't deactivate it's self you know."

_That isn't your only problem._

Both teens froze, Adelle looking about wildly. "Odd, please tell me that was you," she said, stepping towards the blonde. But he wasn't paying her any heed, his attention seemly focus fully on the strange voice. "Odd? What's going on?"

"Xana," Odd whispered, suddenly looking around, a frightened look on his face.

"Xana?" Lauren asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means we have company," Odd responded, pointing over Adelle's shoulder. The girl gave him a confused look, but turned around. What she saw made her jaw drop.

Approaching quickly from down the forest path was a group of five big bug looking things, all of them buzzing through the air, right for Adelle and Odd.

--

"Did you talk to Jeremy?"

"Yes, he's on his way," Yumi answered, tucking her cell phone away. "He just spoke with Lauren; apparently Xana's activated a tower."

"Xana?" Michel asked, leaning between his parent's seats. "What is that?"

"Simply put, he's an evil computer virus bent on world domination," Ulrich answered, glancing back at his son.

"Oh," Michel said. "Is he the one who creates monsters?"

"Yes," Ulrich answered, before giving his son a questioning look. "How do you know about monsters? Have you seen them?"

"No, but I was told that Lyoko was supposed to have them."

"Wait, you've been to Lyoko!?"

"Uh, yeah," Michel said, smiling sheepishly. "That's what I was going to tell you about at dinner."

"When did you go there?" Yumi asked, turning in her seat to look at Michel. "Was it recently?"

"No," Michel said, "we've been going to Lyoko for about a month now."

"We?"

"Uh-huh, me and Adelle and Terence," Michel said, nodding. "In fact, I think Adelle is on Lyoko right now, and Terence is on his way there right now."

"Don't you realize how dangerous Lyoko is?" Ulrich asked, not taking his eyes off the road. "You have no idea of its dangers! You shouldn't have gone there alone."

"But we weren't alone," Michel protested. "We had someone who could show us around."

"Who?" Yumi asked.

"Odd."

"Who!?" Ulrich gasped, spinning around in his seat to look straight at Michel, a maneuver that caused the car he was driving to lurch to the right. The car's passengers both screamed at the distracted driver, who quickly jerked his vehicle straight again, then addressed his son once more.

"You said you were helped by someone named 'Odd'?"

"Yeah," Michel said. "I was meaning to ask you about that tonight actually. You didn't happen to know a kid named Odd Della Robbia when you were in school, did you? Blonde and purple hair, hyper, looks like a cat?"

Michel took the wide eyed, openmouthed looks his parents exchanged to mean 'yes'.

--

Adelle took a step back, bumping against the warrior behind her.

"Odd," she said, keeping her eyes on the sky. "What are those?"

"Remember those monsters I mentioned?" Odd asked. Adelle gave him a nod, so he continued. "Well, these are some of them. They're called Hornets. They fire lasers from their tails."

"That's all very interesting," Adelle said, "But what do I do to destroy them?"

"Just hit them with a knife," Odd answered. "Hornets don't need much to be destroyed, one hit should do it."

"Alright," Adelle said, pulling out a handful of knives from her pouch, readying them for tossing. And she did so just at the right time, for the first of the Hornets was arriving.

"Laser arrow!" Odd shouted from beside Adelle, an arrow firing from his arm and taking out the lead Hornet. Adelle gave one of her knives a toss, but it missed its target by a good few inches. But that didn't mean the Hornet was about to give Adelle a chance to try again as it begin firing off laser shots.

The first shot hit Adelle in the chest knocking her to the ground, with a second shot hitting her in the leg. The Hornet moved to fire again but Adelle gave another one of her knives a throw, this one lodging itself in the monster's tail and destroying it in a blast of data squares.

"Yes, I got it!" Adelle shouted, picking herself up and grinning at Odd.

"Don't get to excited," Odd said, his expression serious. "When Xana does something, he goes all out. Trust me, this fight is going to get harder." The purple clad boy then turned his attention back to the hornets, firing off two arrows which took out another of the big bugs. Adelle also returned her attention to the fight, just in time to take another shot from one of the remaining Hornets.

"Lauren," Odd shouted, taking out Adelle's attacker, "we need some help here!"

_"I know, Adelle's already down to forty life points. But don't worry, Terence just arrived, and I'm sending him in now."_

Just as Lauren finished her sentence, an arrow came whizzing between Odd and Adelle, taking out the remaining Hornet. The startled pair turned to see Terence standing behind them, lowering his bow with a smirk in his face. But a loud thump behind Odd and Adelle had the smirk quickly disappearing, Terence's eyes moving up to stare at something behind the pair.

"What is behind us?" Adelle asked nervously. Odd didn't answer, he already had a good idea of what it was. Slowly he turned to look behind himself, Adelle doing the same, and he found his fears were correct.

For standing behind the pair was a brown furred, silvered eyed version of the big white dog they had run into in the ice sector.

"Oh my, there are more of these?" Adelle gasped, taking a step back. Odd gave a nod.

"I told you this fight would get harder."

**Looks like I'm getting back into my cliffhangers too! And oh boy, I have some doozies planned!...please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Argh, the next chapter has arrived!!!!! And now, on a side note, go read Burakku's Shadow's story 'The Girls, the Cat, and the Ghost'. It rocks. Speaking of, a word from my buddy (with some notes from the peanut gallery)-**

**(The flippin awesome)** Burakku's Shadow **(go read her stuff you silly people!)** needs a vote on which story to write first after she's done with her **(amazing)** mini-series. The pairings for these stories will be as follows:

Code: KakuRenBo will have OddxAelita **(Awww!)**

Code: Reign will have OddxUlrich **(Yay**!), WilliamxYumi, JeremiexAelita, and possibly SissixXana **(Shweeeet!)**

Your votes would be much appreciated** (Cause she needs votes and I wanna see more of her awesome work! So off with you, people reading this, and vote, vote, vote! (after this story O' course)...And take a look at her other works. The Nightmares Come to Life series is brilliant). And now, off to the story!**

The Brown Wulf stared down at Odd and his friends, growling slightly. Below it, the trio of warriors looked back in worry and, in the case of a certain winged boy and knife throwing girl, fear.

"What is that thing?" Terence asked, taking a step back.

"Something scary," Adelle answered him.

"It's called a Wulf," Odd said, glaring back up at the hulking monster. "They're something Xana

"How do you know?" Terence asked. Odd gave the boy a shrug.

"I just do. Now watch out, that thing attacks with a cannon in its mouth. You have to hit it in the eye to destroy it."

"Doesn't seem too hard," Terence said, lifting up his bow and pulling the string back. In the drawn bow materialized a long silver arrow, tipped with blue feathers on one end and a white point on the other.

"Terence don't-" Odd shouted, trying to stop him, but it was too late, Terence had let his arrow fly. It arced through the air, heading straight for its target. But before it could make contact with the Wulf's eye, the monster reared its head up, snatching the arrow between his teeth and crushing it. The Wulf then turned back to the trio before it, taking a step forward and leaning its head towards them.

"Odd, what is it doing?" Adelle asked, moving closer to Odd. The blonde brought his hands up defensively.

"It's going to attack," Odd warned. Just as he finished his announcement, the Wulf let out a hissing growl, his bottom jaw dropping open, revealing the cannon concealed in its jaws. It then fired off a golden yellow laser, which shot through the air, colliding with Terence and sending him flying. The Wulf then turned on Odd, firing off another shot.

The blonde brought his arms up, forming a shield just in time to block the attack, sending it bouncing harmlessly off in the trees.

_"What is going on?" _Lauren shouted suddenly. _"Odd, something just showed up on my map! And how did Terence just lose fifty life points?"_

"Lauren, is Michel on his way?" Odd asked, ignoring Lauren's questions.

_"Yes, they're almost here."_

"Good. Have him tell his parents that there is a Wulf here, a new one."

_"What?" _Lauren asked, confusion coloring her voice.

"Just tell them!" Odd shouted, leaping to the side to avoid another laser. "Ulrich will know what it means!"

--

Lauren started at the supercomputer, trying to decipher Odd's strange message when the sound of an elevator clanging to a halt behind her drew her attention. The blonde turned around to see Michel hurrying out of the newly arrived elevator, his parents following after.

"How are things on Lyoko?' Michel asked, coming to stand next to Lauren. His friend turned to look worriedly at the computer.

"Not good. They're being attacked by something," Lauren said, turning to Michel's parents. "Odd said to tell you it was a Wulf, a new one." She shrugged, "he said you would know what it meant." She noticed Ulrich and Yumi exchange surprised looks, but before she could question it, a beep drew her back to the computer.

"What was that?" Michel asked, leaning over Lauren's seat.

"It looks like Terence was just devirtualized," Lauren answered, typing something on her keyboard. "Now Adelle just lost half her life points. Michel, I think you should head to Lyoko."

"No he is not," Yumi said, stepping forward.

"Why?" the two teens asked, turning to the dark haired woman.

"Lyoko is dangerous," Ulrich said, answering for his wife. "We don't want you getting hurt."

"I won't get hurt," Michel defended, crossing his arms. "I know how to fight on Lyoko." Ulrich opened his mouth to argue, when Lauren cut them off.

"Hey, if this Wulf is as dangerous as you are saying, then you're going to need help. Odd has been showing Michel how to fight on Lyoko for weeks, I'm sure he can handle himself." She looked like she was going to say more, when a familiar voice echoed from the computer.

_"Lauren, is Michel here yet? We kind of need his help."_

--

Odd finished his call just in time to spring forward and knock Adelle out of the line of one of the monster's lasers. He then crossed his arms, his shield deflecting the attack. At the same time Adelle drew two knives, chucking them at the Wulf.

It dodged the first blade, then swatted the second one out of the air as it turned its attention back to the dark haired girl. This time Odd wasn't able to get to her before the laser hit her, devirtualizing the teen. The Wulf gave a satisfied huff, then turned back to face Odd.

"Uh, nice doggie?" Odd said, taking a step back and raising his shield. Thankfully he needn't use it, for at that moment his back up chose to arrive.

"Hey Odd," Michel greeted as he landed on the ground next to Odd. "Miss me?"

"No," Odd said simply. "Did you bring anyone else with you?" Michel nodded, pointing behind the blonde. Odd turned to see two people standing behind him, both looking about Michel's age.

The first was a girl with soft pointed features, dresses in a black body suit with pink markings and a sash around her waist which formed a type of bow in the back. Next to her was a boy who looked almost identical to Michel, although he was dressed in yellow instead of black, and his weapon seemed to be the pair of sword hilts poking out from behind his back.

"Uh, hi?" Odd said, giving the pair a small wave. He had to admit, the two were beginning to weird him out, what with the way they were staring at him, eyes wide and mouths agape.

"…Odd?" the dark haired girl finally asked, looking shocked, although not as shocked as the young boy, who looked beyond words.

"Yeah, nice to meet you," Odd said. "And you are?"

"What?" the girl asked, looking, if possible, more shocked as she turned to look at Michel.

"Oh, um, yeah. Odd doesn't remember anything about you guys."

Odd was beginning to think the pair before him couldn't possibly look any more shocked and upset, when a little fact made itself known.

The Wulf had not gone away.

And it announced this fact with a well aimed laser, which knocked Michel to the ground. So much for convincing his parents that he would be perfectly safe on Lyoko.

Speaking of which, Ulrich and Yumi, after seeing their poor son attacked, launched into attacks of their own. Yumi quickly pulled a pair of fans from her sash, launching one at the Wulf while it was distracted. It whizzed through the air, slamming into the side of the Wulf's head, causing it to stumble slightly.

With a roar the monster turned to glare at the woman, gun exposed. But while the Wulf focused on Yumi, Ulrich took his opening and attacked one of the monsters legs.

--

Up atop the nearby activated tower, a great black cat looked down over the fight ensuing before him, a feline smirk slinking across his features and exposing glinting ebony fangs.

_Soon, Odd, _the cat hissed, ruby eyes glinting. _Your little friends will not last, and you will be __mine__ once more._


	9. Chapter 9

**RAWR: (Yeah, it's one of those days).**

**Chapter nine! Yay! This one may seem a little weird...I dunno, I thought it was weird when I was typing it. Ah well, whatev. Lemme know what you think!**

Odd and Ulrich stood side by side, staring up at the massive monster that loomed over them. For a moment or two the sides just sat there, glaring at one another. Then Odd heaved a sigh, turning to look at Ulrich.

"You know," he said, getting the boy's attention, "I don't know why, but I was thinking that when you and Yumi arrived, we would beat this thing easy and move on with our lives. But now that just you and me are left, I'm beginning to think I was wrong."

"Shut up Odd," Ulrich answered with a small glare, which, for reasons unknown to Odd, caused the blonde to grin. And then the Wulf fired a laser between the two, effectively squashing the moment.

Ulrich and Odd both jumped away from the attack. Ulrich spun to face the monster, raising both his swords. "Supersprint!" he shouted, speeding towards the creature and lunging at its throat. The Wulf didn't let him get the hit though, using one of its large paws to sweep Ulrich away. But while this stopped Ulrich's attack, it left an opening for Odd's.

The cat warrior fired off two arrows, both of which just barely missed the Wulf's silver eye causing the monster to turn its attention to Odd. Attention that was quickly drawn back to Ulrich as the warrior attacked the monster from behind. With an angry roar the Wulf spun around to face Ulrich, presenting Odd with an opportunity.

With his sharp claws the blonde could easily scramble up the Wulf's back, giving him the perfect opening to hit the Wulf's large eye. Happy to have found such a brilliant plan, Odd crouched down, preparing to spring forward.

_Not so fast Odd._

Odd froze, eyes widening at the voice. Slowly he turned to see who it was who had addressed him, and gave a start at what he saw.

Sitting behind Odd was a large black cat with bright red eyes. _Hello Odd, _the cat said, a fanged grin on his face. _It's nice to see you again._

"Who are you?" Odd asked tersely, raising his arm and aiming his arrow launcher at the cat.

_Who am I?_ the cat asked. _I am a friend Odd._ Odd shook his head.

"I don't remember you."

_From what__ I hear, you don't remember much at all_the cat responded. _But I am a friend, and if you let me, I can help you remember me._

"How?' Odd asked, his arm lowering a little. Even though he didn't want to trust this cat, the lure of memories was very tempting.

_Let me show you. _The cat stepped forward, coming to stand right in front of Odd. _Crouch down, _he commanded. And against his better judgment, Odd did as he was told. When he was level with the black cat, the animal sat, reaching up and placing a paw against the blonde's chest. Odd felt a strange pressure in his chest at the touch, and then he was suddenly assaulted with memories.

_The girl, Yumi, throwing one of her fans at him._

_A boy with wild dark hair running at him, swinging at him with a massive sword._

_A girl with long black hair, __bringing her staff like weapon around to hit him in the face._

_The boy, Ulrich, watching as Odd fell into the digital sea below._

_Xana standing beside him, while Ulrich stood across from him, weapons in hand._

Odd gasped, pulling away from Xana as the memories filled his mind. Wide eyed, Odd looked up at Xana.

_Now do you believe me? _he asked. Odd hesitated a moment, turning around to look at Ulrich, who was still a little busy with his Wulf friend. He seemed to not have even noticed that Xana had arrived and was speaking with Odd. _Well? _the large cat asked.

"I- are those memories true?" Odd asked, reluctant to believe these people would have done this to him. Xana nodded solemnly.

_Yes, they are. These people are not your friends, they seek only to destroy you and I._

"But they seemed nice," Odd said. "I can't believe they'd hate me."

_That is there plan, trick you into thinking they are on your side after stealing away your memories._

"They stole my memories!?" Odd asked, shock written across his face. Again, Xana nodded. "Even- even Michel? And Lauren? And the others, they were in on it to?"

_Yes, _Xana said, _I had hoped they could join us, but it seems the others have intervened._ Odd looked down at the grass, his emotions in turmoil. Adelle, Michel, Terence, and Lauren, he liked these four, he trusted them. He didn't want for them to be on different sides. Xana seemed to sense Odd's thoughts.

_They are not completely lost to us,_ he said, regaining Odd's attention. _We may still be able to save them. But to do so, you must trust me, and come with me. Will you?_ Odd thought about Xana's question.

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he trusted Xana. But he did know he didn't want his friends to be turned against him. And so he looked Xana in the eye and said, "Yes." The big cat grinned, his eyes seeming to glow brighter.

_Perfect._

--

Ulrich dodged away from yet another round of laser fire, ducking behind a tree to get away from the brown Wulf on his heels. As he crouched down to catch his breath, Ulrich tried to figure out why Odd had stopped backing him up. Ulrich peeked out from behind his tree, to see what his friend had gotten up to. What he saw shocked him.

Standing over by the tower was Odd, and sitting in front of him was a familiar large black cat.

"Xana," Ulrich hissed, the grip on his sword tightening. Forgetting about the Wulf lurking about, Ulrich stepped out from behind his tree and shouted to Odd, grabbing the blonde's attention. Odd stared at Ulrich, not sure what he should do. He looked to Xana, who stepped forward to stand in front of him.

_We're leaving, _the cat told Odd. He then melted into a cloud of black smoke, which engulfed Odd and swept him away.

Ulrich stared wide eyed at the black cloud that disappeared around the tower and into the forest sector. Not willing to see his friend taken away so soon after finding him, Ulrich immediately launched into a Supersprint and gave chase.

"Lauren, has Jeremy arrived yet?" Ulrich shouted as he ran.

_"Not yet," _Lauren answered. _"Why, what's happened?"_

"Xana just showed up, and he took Odd."

_"Who?" _Lauren asked, but her question went unanswered as Ulrich rounded a corner and caught sight of a large black cloud in front of him. Ulrich felt a rush of adrenalin at the thought of getting his friend back and moved a little faster. He was almost close enough to touch the cloud when something unexpected happened.

From the cloud came what was unmistakably one of Odd's laser arrows, which hit Ulrich square in the chest, bring Ulrich's sprint to an abrupt stop and tossing the boy to the ground.

Ulrich looked up from his place on the ground, giving his head a shake. The hit had caught Ulrich completely by surprise, leaving Ulrich both hurt and confused.

He couldn't figure it out. Only a few minutes ago he and Odd had been fighting side by side, and now the blonde was attacking him? Xana must have taken control of him again, it was the only explanation that made sense.

_"Um, Mr. Stern?" _A voice asked, getting Ulrich's attention.

"Yes Lauren?" Ulrich asked, standing up.

_"Um, I think I should warn you, there's something behind you."_

"Behind me?" Ulrich repeated, slowly turning around. What he saw made his already bad day get worse.

For standing behind him was the forgotten Wulf, crouched down and growling, its cannon exposed.

Ulrich didn't even get a chance to move to defend himself before the monster fired, devirtualizing him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Whoot, New chapter! Man, I'm on a roll. As always, let me know what you think! (And I know not all of you readers do. That, or seven people looked at the last chapter forty times. And I know this story isn't so amazing as to require five re-reads).**

Ulrich leaned against the wall beside the elevator, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Jeremy working at the supercomputer. The blonde had arrived close to twenty minutes ago, wife in tow, and had immediately taken over as if he'd never been away from the factory. Now he was running a scan of Lyoko, searching for his missing friend, with wife and daughter leaning over his shoulders.

"Any sign of him?" Ulrich asked his spot on the wall. At the computer Jeremy shook his head and the room lapsed back into silence for a few minutes.

"Now?" Ulrich asked. Again, Jeremy shook his head, and again silence resumed.

"How about-?"

"Ulrich, I'll let you know when I find something," Jeremy said, glancing over his shoulder at the impatient boy. Just as he said this, the computer gave a beep, getting Jeremy's attention. "Um, Ulrich, I think I've found him."

Ulrich immediately pushed himself away from the wall and, followed by Yumi, Michel, Terence, and Adelle, crowded around Jeremy's chair.

"Where is he?" Ulrich asked, eyes scanning the computer screen.

"There," Jeremy said, pointing to a small purple spot on the screen. "He's in Carthage. You'll need to head to the Ice Sector, then I'll send you the Transport Orb."

"Alright, let's go," Michel said, turning and heading for the elevator. A hand on his arm pulled him to an abrupt stop.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yumi asked her son as Ulrich pulled him back over to the group.

"Where does it look like I'm going?" Michel retorted. "To Lyoko, to help you save Odd."

"Michel. This isn't a game, this is dangerous, especially now that Xana is involved."

"And that's why you need our help," Terence said, coming to stand beside Michel.

"Your help?" Ulrich said, crossing his arms. Terence nodded.

"I agree with them."

"You what?" Ulrich asked, looking at Aelita.

"They have a point," Aelita said. "There are only three of us. Without Sissi and William, we'll be up against Xana, Odd, and whatever monsters Xana has on his side, probably more Wulves. Having four inexperienced warriors with us is better than nothing."

"Four?" Terence asked, looking at Michel and Adelle. "No, there's just three of us." Aelita shook her head, resting a hand on Lauren's shoulder.

"Lauren's coming too."

"She is?" Michel asked.

"I am?" Lauren asked at the same time. Aelita nodded, causing Lauren to shake her head. "No, I think I'll just stay here and help dad."

"Come on Lauren, you need to come to Lyoko!" Adelle said, grabbing her friend's hand and stating to pull her over to the elevator.

"No, I don't think I do," Lauren said, trying to pull her hand away.

"I do," Terence announced, helping push Lauren towards the elevator.

"You guys, I am not going to Lyoko!"

--

"Yes, you are."

Lauren glared at Michel, moving to stand by her mother.

"Aw, don't you look adorable?" Aelita said, giving Lauren a good once over. Lauren looked down to see what her mother meant.

Lauren had arrived on Lyoko dressed in a long sleeved purple leotard with a short darker purple skirt, which Lauren immediately tried to pull down to a more modest length. She also had a wide gold band around her waist, which was tied at her back in a large bow. Her hair was pulled up in a large bun, which rested at the back of her neck.

Michel gave a joking wolf whistle, which Ulrich hit him upside the head for, while Terence let out a whinny 'Aw'.

"What's your problem?"Adelle asked him curiously.

"He's just sad because Laruen looks better than him on Lyoko," Michel said, tossing an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Isn't that right Cupid?"

"I hate you," Terence grumbled in response.

_"Did everyone make it to Lyoko?" _Jeremy asked, his voice drifting down from the Ice Sector's sky.

"Yeah, we're all here," Ulrich answered.

_"Alright, head for the edge of the sector, you're fairly close to it. The Transport Orb will be waiting."_

"You heard the man," Terence said, beginning to walk in a random direction.

"Get back here," Ulrich said, grabbing the raven's arm and tugging him back to the group. "That's the wrong way. And you shouldn't just go wandering off. Now that Xana is back, there may be monsters about."

"Like that other Wulf," Adelle said, giving a slight shudder.

"Other Wulf? What other Wulf?" Yumi asked.

"Last time I came here, there was a white Wulf here, it attacked Odd and I."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't decide to show up again," Ulrich said.

"Let's get going," Aelita said. "The sooner we get to the Transport Orb, the less time the Wulf has to attack as." Yumi and Ulrich nodded in agreement, then the trio suddenly took off running, following the familiar path to the edge of the sector. The other four teens exchanged surprised looks, then took off after the disappearing adults.

The group ran for a few minutes, not seeing any danger, a fact that Terence felt compelled to point out.

"Terence, you're going to jinx us," Lauren said as she ran next to him, the two lagging slightly behind everyone else.

"Come on Laruen, you can't really believe in that stuff," Terence said. Lauren opened her mouth to answer him, but before she could say anything, Lauren was interrupted by a loud thud, followed by a few purple lasers impacting the ground around her. Terence and Lauren turned to see a rather unwelcome sight.

Running behind the pair, and slowly gaining on them, was the white Wulf Adelle had mentioned. Lauren saw the monster, then turned back to Terence, a scowl on her face.

"What did I tell you?" she said.

"I bet it was just an-ah!" Terence cut himself off with a shout as one of the purple lasers caught him in the back, knocking him to the ground.

"Terence!" Lauren shouted, skidding to a halt next to the boy.

"Do something!" Terence yelled, struggling to retrieve his bow.

"What do I do?" Lauren asked, looking between Terence and the Wulf, her fear clear on her face.

"Anything!"

Lauren turned to face the Wulf, trying to think of something to do. To her knowledge she didn't have a weapon, and she had no idea how to fight. There was nothing she could do. And the Wulf had realized this. It skidded to a halt, growling as it aimed its cannon at Lauren.

As the Wulf's cannon charged, Lauren screwed her eyes shut, turning her head away and raising her arms over her face as the Wulf fired.

After a few moments Lauren remained in that position, waiting for the laser to hit her. But it never did. Slowly opening her eyes, Lauren caught sight of Terence staring up wide eyed at something in front of Lauren.

"Whoa," he breathed, looking at Lauren. Confused, Lauren lowered her arms to see what had Terence so amazed. What she saw had her own jaw dropping as well.

Before her glowed a large wall of golden yellow energy, shielding herself and Terence from the perplexed looking Wulf.

"How did you do that?" Terence asked, climbing to his feet.

"I have no idea," Lauren said, looking over the shield.

"How long do you think it'll last?" Terence questioned, stepping forward and pressing hand against the shield.

"I don't know," Lauren said, grabbing her friend's hand and beginning to lead him away, "but I'd rather not find out."

**Now hit that little blue button and let me know what you think!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Heehee, am I doing good or what? Well, here goes chapter eleven! Lets see what Odd thinks of this new friend of his...**

**Oh, and a note, memories are now in italics. And so is Xana's speech. Just so you know (wouldn't want anyone thinking Xana paused mid-story to give a monologue. Oh, and the memory is from the end of Toy Soldier, chapter fourteen I beleive, but in Odd's point of view!). And now, off to the story!**

Odd stood, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Xana pacing about their new location. The large cat was muttering to himself, words Odd couldn't make out. And so, unable to find any entertainment in his new friend, Odd let his mind wander. It didn't take long for this wander to lead its way to Odd's new memories.

Odd couldn't help but feel his mood drop as he recalled the things his 'friends' had done to him, the way they had attacked them. And as much as Odd didn't want to believe these memories to be true, deep down, he knew they were. Even the one of Ulrich, watching as Odd plummeted down into the virtual sea. Odd thought that, out of all the hurtful memories, this one hurt the most. Maybe it was because Odd felt he could trust Ulrich so much, as if there was some type of bond between them.

As he concentrated on this certain memory and Ulrich in general, Odd began to get the familiar feeling of a memory about to hit. Suddenly Odd fell to his knees, a pressure seeming to build in his head as the memory took over.

_Odd stood, staring at the brown haired boy before him__, both standing at the edge of an icy path__. Somewhere in his mind, an__ angry voice was telling him to attack the boy, to destroy him. But fighting against that voice was another, smaller whisper. It said to trust the boy, to let him help. Odd found himself feeling awfully torn._

_"Odd?" the brown haired boy asked quietly, taking a step forward. Again, the angry voice, from somewhere on the right side of his brain, screamed for Odd to attack. But from the left came the softer voice, though louder this time, again pushing its message of trust. Odd, tired of hearing the angry voice, tilted his head to the side, hoping to just dump the voice out of his ear._

_"Odd, what are you doing?" the boy asked, taking another step forward. Odd leaned forward, looking at the hand the boy stretched towards him. The little voice told Odd to grab the hand to trust the boy and not harm him in any way. Odd almost did as the voice commanded, when a shout caught his attention._

_"Ulrich!" the black haired boy standing behind the other boy shouted. "Look out!"_

_Odd looked over to see what had the dark haired boy in such a panic, and had to swallow a gasp. For standing not five feet from the other boy, this Ulrich, was a squarish monster, with its laser aimed at the unsuspecting boy._

_And Odd knew there was no way Ulrich could protect himself from this monster without being tossed off the path. And Odd knew if that happened, it would be bad. But Odd didn't know what to do. The voices were getting louder now, arguing over what to do, who to believe. And then the monster fired and Odd suddenly found his mind made up as he was suddenly pushing Ulrich to safety as the monster's attacks hit him, launching him from the path._

_Fearfully Odd looked up, watching Ulrich disappear as he reached to try and grab the falling boy. And in the back of Odd's mind, the angry voice growled about how listening to the whisper would get Odd killed._

Odd gasped as he came up from the memory, shaking his head to rid it of the haunting memory of his near death experience.

_What happened? Did you remember something?_ a voice asked from above Odd. The cat warrior turned his eyes up to see Xana hovering over him, blood red eyes gleaming in a frighteningly unfriendly way.

"I remembered…" Odd began, searching his mind for something to say. He wasn't sure why, but some part of him warned against telling Xana of his new memory. "I remembered you," Odd began, feeling wisps of a new memory floating through his mind. "You and I were fighting together, and I couldn't fight that Ulrich kid. So you helped me."

Xana looked down his muzzle at Odd. _Is that all?_ the cat asked.

"You protected me," Odd said, climbing to his feet. "And Ulrich fought me. I guess that shows who my true friend is."

_Yes, _Xana hissed, narrowing his eyes at Odd. _Don't you forget it. I am your friend._ Xana then turned and began to stalk off, signaling Odd to follow him with a flick of his head._ Come, we are going to the core._

"I'm coming," Odd grumbled, trotting after the cat. As he followed the large beast, Odd felt the beginning s of a plan forming in his mind.

--

"What did you guys do?" Michel shouted, running full out along one of the narrow paths of the Ice Sector.

"Nothing!" Terence shouted back. "It just attacked us for no reason!"

"Hey guys, less yelling, more running!" Adelle shouted back at the quarrelling pair behind her. Along with Lauren, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita, the group was at the moment full out sprinting to escape from the Wulf currently on their tail.

"We're never going to make it to the Transport Orb like this," Yumi shouted, glancing at the Wulf, which was slowly gaining on the group.

"What do you propose we do?" Ulrich asked, running beside his wife. "I'm open to suggestions."

"We need to distract it," Aelita said, lifting her wrist and showing her star shaped bracelet. "I could do it!"

"No, we're going to need your help against Xana," Ulrich said. Aelita sighed, agreeing with Ulrich reasoning.

"I could do it."

"What?" Michel asked, turning to look at his dark haired friend.

"I could do it," Terence repeated. "I'm already down fifty life points. It makes sense for me to do it."

"That thing wouldn't take a second to get rid of you," Adelle said. "Then what would we do?"

"Lauren could hold it off," Terence said. "She could use one of her shields. So Lauren, you up to it?"

"One of your what?" Michel asked Lauren, but she wasn't paying him any attention. She was focused on Terence. After a moment she sighed, giving the boy a nod.

"Alright, I'll try."

Terence grinned at the blonde, then skidded to a stop, spinning around and drawing his bow, an arrow materializing in it as he pulled back its string. Ahead of him Lauren did the same, stopping and turning, holding her hands out before her.

"Lauren, what are you doing?" Aelita shouted, noticing what her daughter was up to.

"Mom, keep going," Lauren shouted, "I'll catch up with you!" Aelita seemed reluctant to do as her daughter commanded. But Ulrich, who realized what the pair had planned, grabbed Aelita's arm and pulled her away.

"Ready Lauren?" Terence asked, glancing back at his friend. Lauren nodded. "Alright, here he comes." Terence shut one eye, sighting down his arrow as he took aim, his target the Wulf's glowing purple eye.

"Now?" Lauren asked nervously as the Wulf grew closer.

"Not yet," Terence said. He continued to watch the Wulf approach. Almost till the last second Terence waited, until the Wulf was so close he couldn't miss. "Now!" he shouted to Lauren, letting his arrow fly. The Wulf didn't have a chance to dodge, the arrow embedding in its eye and destroying the monster in a great burst of data just as Lauren's shield was put in place, protecting her and her retreating friends from the aftershock of the monsters destruction.

--

Down in the bowls of the factory a scanner slid open, depositing a certain dark haired teen on the ground. A disoriented "Whoa" was about all he could manage.

_"Terence! Terence, are you alright!?" _Jeremy asked, his voice bouncing around the scanner room. Terence gave his head a shake, stumbling slowly to his feet.

"Whoa," he repeated, "Can I go on that ride again?"

_"Glad to see you're okay,"_ Jeremy said. _"Good job by the way."_

"Huh?" Terence asked, staring up at the room's speaker.

_"Thanks to you, the others made it to the edge of the sector. I'm sending them the Transport Orb now. And on another happy note, your parents are on their way here!"_

"Great, tell me after I get devirtualized," Terence grumbled, making his way towards the elevator. "You know, I may have wanted to see what they looked like on Lyoko you know."

_"Sorry Terence," _Jeremy said as Terence entered the elevator, a hint of laughter in his voice. _"But neither of them looks worse then you."_

Up at his computer, Jeremy couldn't help but grin at the small 'darn it!' that echoed back to him.


	12. Chapter 12

**And now for chapter twelve! 'sigh' I was hoping to be further along with the plot by the end of this chapter, which means I now have an extra chapter to write. Good for you guys, sucks for me. Don't get me wrong, I love this story, but man, it ended up a lot longer then I thought it would! But no worries, I will finish this story, no matter how long it gets! (How much would you guys hate me if I got this far, then just went 'Naw, I think I'm tired of working on it.')**

**Well, enough of my rambles, on to the story!**

Xana sat completely still and silent, looking up at the great glowing orb that was the heart of Lyoko. A few feet behind him stood Odd, arms crossed and foot tapping as the blonde did nothing to hide his boredom.

"Soooo," Odd said, uncrossing his arms as Xana gave a flick of his ear to show he was paying attention. "What are we doing here?"

_We are here to see the core, _Xana said, as if it were horribly obvious.

"I got that," Odd said. "I mean, why are we here to see the core?"

_Why must you ask so many questions? _Xana asked in return, glancing over his shoulder. Odd gave the big cat a shrug.

"I'm curious."

_Well, don't be, _Xana said, once again ignoring Odd in favor of the, in Odd's opinion, less interesting core. After a few minutes Odd found he could not continue to remain quiet. Besides, he needed a little more information.

"Do you think that Ulrich kid will attack us?" he asked, trying to sound as if he didn't really care.

_Yes, _Xana said, still staring at the orb. For a moment the virus didn't move. And then suddenly his eyes narrowed as he spun around, staring off into the distance.

"What? What's wrong?" Odd asked as he was hit with the sudden fear that Xana had caught on to him. But his worries were quickly alleviated as Xana began to hurry away from the core.

_Come, you're friend's have arrived, _Xana announced, picking up speed. _Looks like you're getting your attack._

Due to his quick exit, Xana missed the grin on Odd's face as he followed after the big cat, muttering a quick 'perfect' under his breath as he went.

--

With a flash of light, the Transport Orb deposited it's cargo in Carthage. Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita stood in the center of the platform, backs to one another and weapons drawn as familiar habit took over. Beside the trio, Michel, Adelle, and Lauren tried to regain their equilibrium.

"Well, that was fun," Michel said, leaning against his father to hold himself up.

"Very," Lauren added from her seat on the floor. Adelle nodded in agreement, looking a little green.

"Come on you three," Yumi said, looking around. "Be alert, you never know when something might show up."

"Like what?" Lauren asked, climbing to her feet.

_Like me._

The group turned in the direction of the voice, none of them to happy to see its source.

"So, this is Xana?" Michel asked, gripping his weapon tightly. Beside him Ulrich nodded, although his focus wasn't on the cat standing across the room. He was paying more attention the purple clad boy beside the virus. "He doesn't seem so tough."

_Oh? _Xana said, turning his attention to the brunette. _Well I guess it's good that I didn't come here alone._ Xana's words were followed up by a pair of loud thuds behind the warrior group.

"Great," Ulrich said, heaving a sigh after having turned around to see what Xana had brought with him. "Just what we need."

Ulrich's sediment was shared by all as they stared at the pair of Wulves glaring them down, one red, the other black.

"Would you look at that," Yumi said, looking less than thrilled. "Our old friends are back."

"What do we do now?" Adelle asked, nervously glancing between Xana and the Wulves. Ulrich raised his swords.

"We'll have to fight."

"Alright," Michel said, turning to face Xana. Ulrich quickly spun him around.

"No no no, you and Adelle get to fight him," Ulrich said, pointing to the black Wulf. "Lauren, you get the red one. Yumi will help you. Aelita and I will take Xana."

"Why do you get to fight Xana?" Michel whined, arms crossed over his chest. Ulrich gave his son a smile.

"Because I know what I'm doing," he said, giving Michel a pat on the shoulder. "Now go fight your Wulf."

Michel gave another whine, but turned to face his opponent. Adelle, Lauren and Yumi came to stand beside him, the group facing the two growling Wulves.

"So, what do we do?" Michel asked, raising his weapon slightly.

"We'll take them out one at a time," Yumi said, looking over to Lauren. "Do you think you can keep the red one back while Michel, Adelle and I get rid of this black one?" she asked. Lauren looked up at the red Wulf, gulping nervously as she flexed her fingers. After a few moments she nodded.

"Alright," Yumi said, turning back to the black Wulf. "Adelle, Michel, you ready?" The two teens nodded. "Okay. Adelle, you and I will attack the Wulf from the front. Michel, you get behind it, then climb up the Wulf's back and hit its eye from behind."

"I'm doing what now?" Michel asked, turning to stare at his mom.

"You heard me," Yumi said, preparing to throw a fan. "Now go!" Yumi finished her shout by letting her fan fly straight towards the Wulf.

--

Across the round room, Xana crouched low as Ulrich and Aelita came towards him. _Odd, you take that Ulrich child, _he said, a slight snarl to his voice. _I'll take the little elf._

"Yes sir," Odd said, springing forward. He rushed at Ulrich, meeting the boy half way and raising his shield just in time to block a hit from Ulrich's sword. Behind him Xana launched himself to the side, dodging a glowing ball of energy. The cat then leapt forward, claws reaching for Aelita. In response the pink clad girl extended her wings, evading danger.

Odd's attention was quickly brought back to the fight by a sword almost carving him in half. Odd retaliated with a few laser arrows as he flipped away from his opponent, glancing back to make sure he was heading in the right direction.

"Come on Ulrich," Odd murmured under his breath. "Follow the kitty."

--

Adelle leapt back, letting two knives fly at the black Wulf. The monster roared at her, knocking the knives away and lunging forward. But it didn't get far before a razor edged fan slammed into the side of its head, shifting the monsters attention. Then hit was hit again by more knives on the other side, causing the monster to roar with frustration.

That frustration grew when a sudden weight appeared on the Wulf's hips. The Wulf spun its head around to see Michel scrambling up its back. Angrily the Wulf began to buck, trying to lose this new attacker. But Michel was not about to be tossed away so simply. In a moment of panic Michel swung his mace forward, lodging the spiked ball in the monsters back.

The Wulf was understandably unhappy with this make shift seatbelt of Michel's, a fact it was not subtle in making known. Letting out a screaming roar, the Wulf leapt into the air, jerking to try and dislodge Michel. When that didn't work, the Wulf threw itself to the ground, barely missing smushing Michel between monster and floor.

"You know, help isn't unappreciated here, you can jump in at any time!" Michel cried as he used a fistful of fur to pull himself away from the floor.

"I got it!" a voice shouted, followed by a flash of silver striking the Wulf's head. Michel then felt an arm around his waist pulling himself away from the Wulf just as it exploded. Once the Wulf was gone, Michel felt himself set on his feet.

"You okay?" his savior asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fi-uh…" Michel trailed of, looking up at the boy before him. For one wild moment he thought it was Terence standing before him, but the giant sword and lack of fluffy wings pushed that thought aside.

"What? No hello? No 'Thank you Mister Dunbar'?" the dark haired boy said, giving Michel a lopsided grin.

"Hi Mister Dunbar," Michel said, still getting over the man's sudden appearance.

"William!" another voice shouted, drawing the pair's attention.

"Hey Yumi!" William said, quickly brushing himself off. "Don't you look lovely today?"

"Save it William," Yumi said, coming to a stop beside her son. "Where's Sissi?"

"She went to help Ulrich and Aelita."

**And I wasn't actually gonna stop here, but I hit my normal length, so I figured you can find out what Sissi is up to later:)**

**And Burakku's Shadow, you may now have Odd back (frilly dress and all) for I am finished with him!...for now...**


	13. Chapter 13

Aelita dodged to the left, just in time to avoid Xana as he lunged himself at her, claws drawn and fangs bared. Aelita then launched a pair of energy fields at the cat, which were both nimbly dodged. She was then forced to lift back into the air as Xana threw himself at her.

Xana growled deep in his throat as he landed on Aelita's vacated spot. With a roar he spun around, launching himself up into the air. Aelita saw the virus fast approaching her from below and quickly twisted away from his grasping claws. And then suddenly Xana was gone, having been knocked from the air by a white blur barreling into him.

Xana hit the ground with a bang, sliding away from whatever had hit him. With a shake of his head Xana looked up to see Sissi, a triumphant grin on her face as she lowered her staff.

"Hey Aelita," she said as the pink haired girl came to land beside her. "What'd I miss?"

"Odd's been captured by Xana again," Aelita said, landing next to Sissi. Twitching one of her large ears, Sissi turned to look at Odd and Ulrich fighting a ways away, then turned back to Aelita.

"No kidding?"

--

Ulrich quickly ducked a punch from Odd, retaliating with a swipe of his sword, which Odd blocked with his shield.

"Odd!" Ulrich shouted, blocking a pair of laser arrows, "Odd, I don't want to hurt you, I'm your friend! Xana's the evil one!"

"I know!" Odd shouted back, swinging a punch at Ulrich's head. The blonde's words took Ulrich so by surprise that he almost forgot to block the hit.

"You do?" he asked, jumping to avoid one of Odd's kicks.

"Yes," Odd said, glancing at Xana, who was being kept busy by Aelita and Sissi. "And I think I've figured out how to defeat him once and for all."

This time Ulrich really did forget to block Odd's punch, and soon he found himself tossed on his rear end. "How?" he asked, leaping back to his feet.

"We need to get to Carthage's interface," Odd explained, glancing back at Xana.

"And how do we do that?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, Xana locked the passage way that is supposed to open out of here," Odd explained, noticing Xana glance his way. He quickly tackled Ulrich to the ground, aiming a punch at the boy's face. Once Xana looked away he continued. "Once the Wulves are out of the way and Xana is taken care of, you can get Jeremy to open the passage. Xana disabled the security, so we won't have to go hit the key to get through."

Ulrich tossed Odd of himself, swinging his sword at him as he asked, "When are we putting this plan into action?"

"I think as soon as that other Wulf is gone," Odd said. "That shield thing I've seen Lauren use, I bet that could hold Xana back while we get out of here.

--

Lauren jumped back as the last Wulf exploded in a burst of data. Adelle, who stood beside her, crossed her arms with a huff.

"They're just showing off now," she said as William and Yumi came over and joined them.

"So, what did you think of that little performance?" William asked, shouldering his massive sword.

"I think you knocked that Wulf over on top of Michel," Adelle shot back. William pondered this for a moment, then shrugged.

"Opps."

--

"Why does this stuff always happen to me?" Michel asked, staring at Jeremy sulkily, while behind him Terence had a hearty laugh at his friend's expense.

"It happens," Jeremy said with a shrug, eyes glued to his computer as Michel rounded on the still chuckling Terence.

"You know Giggles, you were devirtualized the same way I was!"

"Yes," Terence said, giving a nod, "But I did it on purpose. And it was because the Wulf was exploding, not because I was sat on."

Terence burst into another round of laughter as Michel continued to glare at him.

--

"Hey, shouldn't we be helping the others?" Lauren asked, interrupting William and Adelle.

"Yes, we should," Yumi said, grabbing William's arm. "Lauren, Adelle, you two go help Ulrich with Odd. We'll go after Xana." Yumi and William then disappeared, running towards Sissi and Aelita.

"Now what?" Lauren asked. Personally, she didn't want to fight Odd. Adelle seemed a little less hesitant.

"You heard the lady, we go help Mr. Stern." With that said, Adelle pulled out a handful of knives and took off towards the battling pair. After a moment of hesitation, Lauren followed.

--

You're sure this is where it will open up?" Ulrich asked as he and Odd directed their mock battle to the edge of Carthage's center arena. Odd nodded.

"All we need is for Jeremy to unlock the door, and then we can-whoa!" Odd shouted, cutting himself off as he narrowly avoided being impaled by a trio of knives. Looking up, Odd caught sight of a red blur dropping down on him from the sky, and he was barely able to get out of the way as Adelle came crashing to the ground where he had just stood.

"Adelle, stop!" Ulrich shouted, the raven didn't hear him as she launched herself at Odd, the blonde ducking and weaving to avoid the blade thrower.

"Adelle wait, I'm on your side!" he shouted, yelping as one of the girl's knives just missed removing his ear. "Adelle, don't make me attack you!"

Adelle responded to this threat with a crazy volley of knives, which had poor Odd dancing to avoid the rain of weaponry. In what was almost a knee-jerk type reaction, Odd brought up his arm and fired back at his attacker. And due to having fewer life points then Odd expected, Adelle was promptly devirtualized.

"Uh…opps?" Odd said, frowning as Ulrich came to stand beside him.

"I'm on your side," Ulrich quoted, raiding an eyebrow at Odd.

"It was an accident!" the blonde defended, crossing his arms over his chest, a pout on his face.

"Are you really on our side?" Lauren asked, getting Odd's attention. Odd turned to answer the young blonde, but faltered when he caught sight of her. Blue eyes widened as the cat warrior stared open mouthed at Lauren, seemly at a loss for words.

"Um, Odd?" Lauren said looking worried, and a tad freaked, by Odd's reaction to her.

"Oh right," Ulrich said, stepping forward. "Odd, this is Lauren. Lauren, I believe you already know Odd."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Lauren said, extending a hand. Odd responded by dropping to one knee, taking Laruen's hand and kissing it.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine," he said, giving what he obviously thought was a seductive look. "Just from your beauty, I can tell you must Aelita's daughter."

"Back off lover boy," Ulrich said, grabbing his friend and tugging him away from a bewildered Lauren.

--

"Come and get me you smelly cat!" Sissi shouted, staff held at the ready. Xana snarled, launching himself at the girl. With a cheeky grin Sissi jumped away just in time. Xana turned to follow her, when a massive sword suddenly slammed down in front of him, causing him to pull his paws back so as not to lose them.

William grinned cheekily at the big cat. The grin disappeared as Xana leapt forward, William disappearing in a burst of blue smoke before Xana could catch him. Just then something whizzed past Xana's head. Turning, he caught sight of Yumi, who was launching her second fan.

_I will not be beaten so easily, _Xana growled, his eyes glowing brightly. Then with a roar he jumped up, catching Yumi's fan before it could hit him and, with a flick of his head, tossed it back. Not expecting the counterattack, Yumi was knocked to the ground by her own fan.

Xana grinned evilly at the girl, just as he felt someone approaching him from behind. With a snarl Xana spun, ducking Sissi's staff and grabbing her leg in his jaws. With a shout from the startled girl, Xana tossed her into Yumi, the pair toppling back to the ground, knocking the last life points from Yumi and devirtualizing her. Sissi, who was caught in the blast, was also devirtualized.

Not pausing in his sudden onslaught, Xana swiveled around to meet William as the boy tried to attack him from behind. This time William wasn't fast enough, and before he could escape Xana had him pinned to the ground. A quick bite to the neck had the raven conveniently devirtualized.

Xana then turned his attention to his last attacker. To his surprise, he caught her flying towards Odd and Ulrich, who were now longer fighting. With a roar of frustration Xana took off after the elfin girl, enraged at his soldier's abandonment. Something the virus did not plan on letting the little human get away with.


	14. Chapter 14

**And here it is, chapter fourteen! This is also, sadly, the final chapter. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty sad to see this puppy go...Well, at least now I can get to work on all those other fics I should be doing...**

**Well, I hope you have enjoyed this fic of mine, and find this ending fitting. All of you have have stuck with this fic to the end, you are all amazing! So, I dedicate this to you! Burakku's Shadow, DayDreamer9, LanHikari2000xSnowPrincessMossy, EijixOishi, and Terran34 especially, for the wonderful welcome you have given me, and all of your amazing feedback.**

"Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely!"

Lauren glanced over her shoulder at Odd, finding that his words didn't comfort her all that much.

"Trust me," Odd said when he caught her look. "Your shields are much stronger then you think they are. They held back that Wulf didn't they?"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts," Odd cut her off. "You can do this. It's just for a few seconds, just enough time for us to get through that door."

"Alright," Lauren said, not looking at all like she had been assured. She then jumped as something hurtled past her, landing beside Odd. That something then proceeded to engulf Odd in a big hug.

"Hi Aelita!" Odd chirped happily as he and Aelita shared a hug.

"Hello Odd," Aelita said, grinning as she released her friend. "How are-" but the pink haired girl's question was cut off by a loud roar. Startled, everyone turned to see Xana barreling towards the group, ebony fangs flashing and bright eyes a-gleam.

"I think maybe would be a good time to leave," Ulrich said, tugging slightly on Odd's arm. The cat warrior nodded in agreement, starting to move towards the arena's wall.

"Jeremy!" he shouted, "We're ready to go!"

_"No," _Jeremy said as the wall in front of Odd slid open. _"Now you're ready."_

Ulrich and Aelita immediately shot through the new opening as Lauren threw up a glowing shield.

"Wait until the wall starts to close," Odd told her, "then follow us." Lauren nodded as Odd too disappeared through the doorway. "Alright Jeremy, close it!" he shouted once he was through.

Slowly the wall began to slide back together. Lauren glanced over her shoulder at the opening that was growing more and more narrow just as Xana collided with her shield.

_You will not stop me!_ Xana roared, slamming himself against the shield, ramming it repeatedly with his shoulder. _I will get free!_

"Lauren, let's go!" Odd shouted, raising his arm to face Xana. "We'll hold him off!" Lauren glanced back at the blonde uncertainly, then turned back to Xana.

"Maybe I should stay here!" she shouted back, afraid to move since she knew as soon as she shifted he shield would come down, leaving her open to an attack.

"No, I'm going to need your help at the interface!" Odd shouted back. "Trust me, I won't let him get you, now come on, the door's closing!" But again, Lauren hesitated. But she found her trust of Odd was beating out any fear of the giant cat in the other side of her defense. Taking a deep breath, the blonde prepared herself and in a sudden lurch of movement spun around and took off towards the room's exit.

Behind her Xana also leapt forward, hurtling himself towards Lauren. A volley of arrows knocked him right back to the ground as Lauren burst into the next room, the doorway slamming shut right behind her, barely missing catching her bow.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Odd said, giving the girl a grin. Lauren just glared back at him, looking over her shoulder to check that her outfit had made it through in one piece.

"Come on you love birds, we need to get going," Ulrich said, a smirk on his face. The smirk quickly vanished when he caught sight of the purple clad warrior sprinting towards him, and Ulrich quickly turned tail and began to run away. With twin sighs, Aelita and Lauren followed after the pair.

Other then Odd's death threats and Ulrich's witty remarks, the trip through the labyrinth like room was rather uneventful, something that made the Lyoko veterans of the group a little wary. Why, Xana knew the group was up to something, hadn't he set up some security? Even a lowly creeper would be better than this total lack of, well, anything.

Of course, no one made any comment, not to willing to jinx the situation, something experience had taught them was more than possible. Although Odd found the temptation to say something become more and more powerful as the group left the labyrinth like room and began moving down the hall at the other end, still without any form of opposition. When the group reached the elevator and still hadn't seen anything, Odd found he could keep quiet no longer.

"Hey, does anyone else think it's weird that we haven't been attacked yet?"

"No," Ulrich said, looking down to see if he could spot the elevator coming.

"Odd, you're going to jinx us," Aelita said.

"And besides, we were attacked by Xana and those two Wulves. It couldn't get any worse."

"Last time I said that," Ulrich said, turning to look at Lauren, "I almost drowned."

"Really?" Lauren said, eyes wide. Ulrich nodded, just as a rumbling sound filled the air. "What's that?" Lauren asked.

"That's the elevator," Odd said, grabbing her hand. "Get ready to jump."

"Get ready to what?" Lauren asked, looking confused. She was answered when Odd suddenly leapt into the air, jerking her forward. She found herself landing hard on a platform which was soaring through the air.

"Hang on tight!" Odd shouted, just as the platform emerged from inside Carthage, flying along the outside of the sphere.

"Whoa," Lauren gasped, looking out in awe at the sea of data all around her. The view didn't last long though, the elevator soon disappearing back inside and jerking to a halt.

"Here's our stop," Odd said, directing Lauren off of the platform, along with Aelita and Ulrich. HE then made his way over to the computer interface at the end of the short pathway extending from the elevator.

"So," Aelita said, coming to stand beside Odd. "Why are we here?"

"So that we can defeat Xana, and fix all of this mess," Odd said, beginning to tap away at the screen.

"Odd, do you know what you're doing?" Ulrich asked, looking over his friend's shoulder. The blonde shrugged.

"I think so." Ulrich sighed.

"That's reassuring."

_Very._

The group spun around, eyes wide as they stared at Xana. "How did you get here?" Ulrich demeanded, sword raised. The cat just grinned, then leapt forward to attack. Ulrich quickly hurled himself forward, ready to defend his friend.

"Aelita, help him!" Odd shouted as he turned back to the computer, working furiously. Aelita nodded, running forward to join the fight. When Lauren moved to follow Odd rested a hand on her arm, stopping her.

"No, I need you here," he said.

"Why?" Lauren asked, confused.

"Because, you know a lot about computers, right?"

"Yeah, but nothing about Lyoko!" Odd shrugged.

"You can still help me. I need two people to activate what I'm about to do," he said, continuing to mess with the computer. He hit a few places on the screen, moved a few windows, and suddenly a screen popped up.

'ACTIVATION CODE?' it read. Odd pressed his hand against the screen. After a few seconds the words 'RECOGNIZED- ODD' appeared, followed by a few more windows opening up.

"Return trip sequence?" Lauren read off of one of the windows as Odd changed some of the numbers it held. The blonde nodded, just as the word 'VERIFICATION' appeared.

"Aelita would be best for this," Odd said, taking Lauren's hand, "But I'm sure it'll work for you too."

"Huh?" Lauren asked as Odd pressed her hand against the screen. 'VERIFYING' it read. Odd tapped his foot impatiently as the computer took it's time while behind him Ulrich and Aelita could be heard fighting fiercely. The sounds of a devirtualization signaled the way the fight was going.

"Odd, are you almost done back there!?" Ulrich shouted over his shoulder, narrowly avoiding a swipe from Xana's claws.

"Almost!" Odd shouted back. "Come on, come on!" he hissed at the computer. A few seconds later a new message appeared on the screen. 'VERIFIED- AELITA. ACCESS GRANTED' followed by a single button appearing- 'ACTIVATE'.

"Odd, what are you doing?" Lauren asked, looking nervous.

"Fixing things," Odd said, a smile on his face. "Goodbye Lauren, it was nice meeting you."

"What?" Lauren asked, but Odd didn't answer, instead pressing his hand against the 'activate' button.

Suddenly the screen dissolved in a white light which spread over Odd and Lauren, and engulfed Ulrich and Xana, just as the virus let out a roar of defeat.

--

Ulrich groaned as he rolled over in his bed, pulling his blanket over his head. For a moment he lay in the bliss of the knowledge that it was a Sunday, meaning there were no classes. But that bliss was short lived as the memories of the events before the return trip came flooding back, including the one of Odd being attacked by the strange monster.

"Odd!" Ulrich called, sitting up and looking over at his friend's bed. To his relief the blonde was sprawled out across his bed, mouth hanging open as a trail of drool made it's slow trek to the blankets around Odd's head. But it was foiled as Odd sat up straight, having been awoken by Ulrich's shout.

"What?" he asked, eyes wide as his head spun around in search of what could have his friend sounding so worried. He saw his roommate sitting on his bed, looking perfecting fine. "What's wrong?' Odd asked, his brain sluggishly processing the fact that there was no immediate threat in sight.

"Don't you remember what just happened on Lyoko?" Ulrich asked, eyebrows raising when Odd shook his head.

"Nope. Now, can I go back to sleep?"

"Yeah, go to sleep Odd," Ulrich said, a grin now splitting his face. The blonde didn't need telling twice as he flopped back down on his bed, soon giving off loud, rumbly snores.

--

Three months later our team of Lyoko warriors would defeat Xana once and for all, after leaving him puzzling over why his latest master plan to capture one of the annoying children failed so miserably, finally shutting the computer down once and for all.

And twenty years later a certain black haired teen would come wondering through the factory, against his parents' warnings, but find nothing exciting and leave one more.

And so the super computer would once again go dark and dormant, never again to threaten the safety of the world. That is, until the next group of unsuspecting children came along…

**'scurries away to work on next big fic'**


End file.
